Three out of
Five stars
Running time:
105 mins
Surprisingly dark, but not all that funny, despite a strong premise and a talented cast.
What's it all about?
Adam Sandler stars as Michael Newman, an overworked architect who never has time for his wife (Kate Beckinsale) and kids (Joseph Castanon and Tatum McCann) because he's busy working himself to the bone in the hopes of a promotion from his ungrateful boss (David Hasselhoff).
However, when a mysterious department store employee (Christopher
Walken) gives him a universal remote, Michael discovers that it can control every area of his life, from muting the dog to fast-forwarding through arguments with his wife. There's even a commentary by James Earl Jones.
The Good
Click has a terrific premise (who hasn't looked at their remote and wished they could use it on their lives in some way?) and the early scenes of Michael discovering and exploiting the remote's powers are the funniest bits of the film. Some of the gags are enjoyably surreal, such as the scene where Michael turns himself green and does Hulk impressions.
Director Frank Coraci has assembled an impressive comedy cast that includes David Hasselhoff (clearly having a terrific time), Jennifer Coolidge, Sean Astin, Henry Winkler and Julie-Marge-Kavner.
Beckinsale is good too (although she's not really given anything funny to do) but the film is comprehensively stolen by Christopher Walken, who gives a typically bonkers performance as Morty.
The Bad
Essentially, Click is a modern-day version of It's A Wonderful Life, only with fart jokes. As such, it gets extremely dark about halfway through and then keeps getting darker, to the point that you wonder where the comedy went.
There are a number of laugh-out-loud gags, but the majority of the jokes fall flat and your enjoyment of the film is going to be largely dependent on how funny you find Sandler's brand of shouty comedy.
Worth seeing?
Click is never less than watchable, though not as funny as it should have been.