Blog From The Bench

Click is far from perfect. It’s bifurcated approach to family friendly comedy is confusing to both audience and actors. One moment we are laughing as a dog humps a huge stuffed duck. The next our heartstrings are being tugged and tweaked as lessons about living are paraded out like so many superstar cameos. At the center is the same old story we’ve witnessed ad nauseum from the hackneyed Hollywood dream factory – overworked parent/partner learns that his devotion to career is destroying his idyllic home - and, without giving much away, Click doesn’t stray from the formulaic fallout involved. Instead, it wallows in it, pushing tears and belly laughs like punctuation in the life sentences of these golden oldie proverbs. John Lennon once argued “All You Need is Love”. Click argues that said emotion and a high tech plot gimmick are indeed the answer to the repugnant routine of the rat race.

Still, for all its obvious faults, I found myself completely lost in this genial, quasi-genuine comedy. Sandler and his stellar cast - from the beautiful Kate Beckinsale to the ever quirky Christopher Walken – deliver this combination of fart jokes and dramatic dross with enough poignant force to keep the numerous flaws at bay. Granted, it is easy to pick this movie apart. It is overloaded at the front with farce, saving all of its sap until the end and narrative quandaries creep up frequently (what’s the deal with the O’Doyles? How did a butthead like David Hasselhoff become an architectural big wig?). Yet, the way our star and his Wedding Singer/Waterboy director pal Frank Coraci approach this material, you can’t help but give in to its many manipulations. As Michael Newman, Sandler straddles the growing chasm between his glorified goofball past (Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison) and his more moderated mainstream future (50 First Dates, Punch-Drunk Love). His family is fresh and unforced, with kids who are clever without being cloying, and a spouse who struggles to support her underachieving man.

Indeed, without the novelty of the “universal remote” this far more Sandler-esque response to Spanglish could actually play on its own. The opening act, with its near-novel take on family and home have a wonderful rhythm and sincerity. Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner make an excellent pair of aging parents and Jennifer Coolidge’s maneater Janine is an anarchic archetype. But once we get to the techno-tenets of the film, we feel the tone subtlety shifting. Gone are the obvious jokes and slapstick riffs. In their place are pokes at DVD, business acumen, and the concept at time. As Sandler masters his new convenience device, the ways in which he uses it make some manner of sense. Indeed, we buy into the entire remote ruse since it comes with an inherent curiosity. We want to see where the next click takes him. The sentimental last act will be the toughest for the comic’s fans to fully fathom. It’s not because of the depth Click strives for, but the obvious attempts at interpersonal exploitation. While the movie earned its ending’s emotionalism (at least in my opinion), there will be those who think their favorite funnyman has seriously sold out for some syrupy sentimentality.

Indeed, Click is sappy and saccharine, but it’s the good kind of cleansing, cathartic corniness. It reminds us that movies can, occasionally, hit upon the proper combination of entertainment and emotion and play both to a single, satisfying draw. This is not the funniest film Sandler has made (for me, The Waterboy wins that distinction) nor will it be the most maudlin of his overall career (remember, next up is a 9/11 drama). In fact, those critics who’ve called this a midpoint in his shift from stooge to seriousness have more or less hit the narrative nail right on the head. It was a major risk for this popular performer to try and combine dopiness with drama, and it doesn’t always work. But when it does, Click surpasses most of the baffling bullcrap being passed off as blockbuster summer cinema this year. It’s sweet, serious, stupid, strange and just a little sloppy. But at its core is a real desire to comment on the intrinsic value of family. And for this antisocial cynic, the message came across loud and tear…I mean, clear.

7 out of 10

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