CLICK
Imagine having a universal remote control that allows you to go back in time to review parts of your life like an impartial observer and then lets you fast forward past all the unpleasant and stressful moments to come. Imagine freeze framing a moment of time - past, present, or future - and being able to manipulate material objects within your grasp. Imagine being able to eavesdrop and translate the words of a private conversation spoken in a foreign language to close a business deal. Imagine being able to do all this and more with the click of a remote on a menu of your life that hangs in the air like a hologram. Michael Newman, a hard working, nose-to-the-grindstone architect is able to do just that after he ventures into a fantasy world where he the click of a remote may help him get control of his life in the new Adam Sandler movie, “Click.”
I’m not giving anything away here. Everything I mentioned is in the coming attractions. Most of the time “Click” clicks. It could have been a flawless family movie. The plot gives Michael enough motivation for him to want to give his boss some payback for not giving his due for his contributions to the firm. But the writers and director Frank Coraci, or perhaps Sandler himself, felt the need to pander to his hard core fans with some sophomoric schtick, like passing wind in his boss’ face during a video freeze frame to get revenge. David Hasselhoff’s reaction as his boss makes it funny but the act itself is mean spirited, out of character and out of place in a film whose sense of humor is surprisingly more organic and plot driven.
Michael tries to balance work and family life but the scales tip dangerously in favor of work. He puts in long hours. A partnership dangles just out of reach like a carrot on a stick. He’s tired, irritable, and ultimately despondent over his boss’ hesitation to promote him. Michael dozes off at a Bed Bath and Beyond store, wakes up, and is intrigued by a doorway marked ‘Beyond.” He enters. Morty (Christopher Walken) greets him with his Cheshire smile. He offers Michael a solution to his problems - a remote control that can help him alter time. He can review his past life or alter his future. Like a kid in a toy shop, Michael explores the possibilities. He makes good choices and bad choices. But the one choice he ultimately regrets is to pass over anything unpleasant or painful. The remote takes on a life of its own skipping whole chapters in Michael’s life that deprive him of experiencing important moments in his family’s life. How to measure happiness without the heartache? In essence life passes him by.
“Click” was written by Steve Koren and Mark O’Keefe who penned the terrific “Bruce Almighty” for Jim Carrey. I would be hard pressed to imagine that they had never seen or heard of “The Man Who Could Work Miracles” (1936) with Roland Young. This H.G. Wells penned tale is about a mortal man given infinite power by two deities. He almost destroys the universe. Likewise “Click” possesses an amalgam of ideas found in a variety of classic motion pictures some with literary origins.
Christopher Walken’s Morty is like the Spirits of Christmas, Past, Present and Future in “A Christmas Carol” all rolled into one. He gives Michael a glimpse of what was, is or might be. Like George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” he also a chance to see how much he will miss and be missed if he continues to misuse the powers of the remote control. While the remote in “Click” doesn’t erase bad memories like the low tech contraption in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” it does allow Michael Newman to bypass painful experiences. And finally - and this is where “Click” works best - the slow build up to it’s moist poignant moments evoke the feeling of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.” Michael has a chance to witness all the phases of his family’s life with a mixture of sorrow and remorse, albeit, with some laughs.
Henry Winkler, and Julie Kavner add to “Click”s charm as the stereotypical doting but endearing grandparents. The stars get a chance top show what good thespians they are aging gracefully on screen as Michael Newman’s parents. Kate Beckinsale is Michael’s wife Donna who goes through more changes than a chameleon coping with her husband’s problems. Sean Astin is the swimming coach who becomes more than a mentor to the Newmans’ two children. David Hasselhoff has a chance to lampoon the manly image he cultivated on TV with just the right amount of inanity as Michael’s boss. Christopher Walken’s Morty is more like an absent minded professor than a seer who may not have all the answers but knows where and when to ask Michael the right questions. These actors are all letter perfect!
If it wasn’t for Adam Sandler’s temptation to go for the cheap laugh with maliciousness glee in several scenes instead of reaching deep inside Michael’s wounded psyche for a more pithy response to his character’s needs, “Click” could have been a near perfect movie. It is imaginative, whimsical, and - at times - downright heartwarming.
Copyright 2006
See “Click” and then seek out these classic films I mentioned, You won’t be disappointed.
“A Christmas Carol” aka “Scrooge” in the U.K. (1951) - There have been many versions Charles Dickens’ classic story but this is the one by which all others are measured. Alistaire Sim goes from skinflint to philanthropist when he reviews his life with the help of the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future. A perennial Christmas classic.
“It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) - A Frank Capra classic with James Stewart as George Bailey, a man at the end of his rope who is about to commit suicide on Christmas Eve An angel named Clarence gives him a chance to see what life would be like if he were never born. But not before we get a chance how his simple life touched the people in his small town. Then he gets a chance to see their own nightmare existence had he never been born. With Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell and Ward Bond among others. Henry Travers is Clarence. Another perennial Christmas classic that holds up year after year.
“Our Town” (1940) - Martha Scott’s ghostly presence witnesses all the heart and heartache in her family while she was growing up unaware of the sacrifices they made for her happiness. Adapted from Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer winning play with William Holden, Fay Bainter, Thomas Mitchell and Beaulah Bondi, Stu Erwin, and Guy Kibbee
“The Man Who Could Work Miracles” (1936) - The H.G. Wells story about the timid clerk who is given the power of the gods by two deities who want to see what he will do with it. The only problem is, he doesn’t think like a god, but a human being full of human frailty who wants the woman he love to notice him. He holds the fate of the world in his hands and he doesn’t know what to do with it. Roland Young, the original “Topper,” stars with Ralph Richardson, and George Sanders among others.
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004) - Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, director Michel Gondry concoct an amazing fantasy about a machine that can plot a road map of the brain’s memories and erase the unpleasant ones from a willing participant’s consciousness. The story is about the break up of two people destined for each other who have second thoughts about what they’ve done and through the magic of cinema plot to keep some glimpse of their happiness alive to draw them back together. Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are the star crossed lovers. Tom Wilkinson is the crackpot inventor. Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, and Elijah Wood are the low tech loonies who are supposed to be minding the store.