KINCHEN AT THE MOVIES: ‘Click’ Shows Serious Dimension to Adam Sandler, with Touches of ‘Defending Your Life,’ ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ – Along with Sophomoric Humor, Of Course!
By David M. KinchenEditor, Huntington News Network
Hinton, WV (HNN) --- An Adam Sandler flick without sophomoric humor wouldn’t really be right, would it? But his newest movie, “Click,” directed by Frank Coraci (“Around the World in 80 Days,” “The Wedding Singer,” “The Water Boy”) has an extra dimension.
Sandler is Michael Newman, a workaholic New York architect who doesn’t have enough time for his wife Donna (Kate Beckinsale as a "Desperate Housewife," wonderfully realized) and his son Ben (Joseph Castanon) and daughter Samantha (Tatum McCann). He wants to fast-forward his life and he gets his wish when Morty (Christopher Walken) at Bed, Bath & Beyond gives him a truly “universal” remote control.
Written by Steve Koren and Frank O’Keefe (“Bruce Almighty”), “Click” has much in common with that Jim Carrey 2003 movie, but it also reminded me of Carrey’s earlier “The Truman Show” (1998) as well as “Defending Your Life” directed by and starring Albert Brooks (1991). Hey, nothing wrong with being a little derivative; these are all wonderful fantasy movies, allowing the writers to get a message across without going preachy and mushy on us.
The spiritual source for “Click” could also be “It’s A Wonderful Life,” with the always excellent Walken in the role of the guardian angel played by Henry Travers in the 1946 Frank Capra classic.
“Click” is typical of today’s movies when real products abound, without fake names: Let Twinkies and Lay’s potato chips be Twinkies and Lay’s is the way things are, along with BB&Beyond, Best Buys, etc. Frankly, my dear, it doesn’t bother me one bit. The in-the-future scenes feature Segways and what appears to be a Smart car.
Henry Winker and Julie Kavner play Sandler’s parents without the over-the-top Jewishness of Barbara Streisand and Dustin Hoffman in “Meet The Fockers.” David Hasselhoff shows he doesn’t need a talking car as Sandler’s boss at the architectural firm where he’s striving to advance. Jennifer Coolidge and Sean Astin have their moments in an altogether excellent cast. Rachel Dratch of Saturday Night Live and Second City plays a very unusual secretary to Sandler’s harried architect.
“Click (98 minutes) is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor and some drug references. The dog humping and fart jokes might be a little excessive to some, but this is a Sandler flick!