click movie reviews

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, not remotely amusing.

Now streaming on:

Scrooge was granted visions of Christmas Past and Christmas Future, and reformed his life. What happens to Adam Sandler in "Click" is like what happened to Scrooge, except with a lot more Christmases. He needs more than one lesson and he gets more than one lesson. Way more.

In " Being There ," the hero Chance has spent all of his life watching television. When he wanders out to freedom and is threatened on the street, he clicks a TV remote control to get another channel. In "Click," Sandler plays Michael, an architect who is given a universal remote that's truly Universal. With it, he can take control of his life: freeze a scene, fast-forward, reverse, mute the sound, select the chapters of his choice and even witness his parents at the moment of his conception (that's, of course, in the "Making of" documentary).

The movie is being sold as a comedy, but you know what? This isn't funny. Yes, there are some laughs, as when he finds he can turn the dog's barking up and down, or play around with the settings for hue and contrast, or when he discovers the picture-in-picture feature that allows him to watch the ballgame no matter what else is going on around him. But the movie essentially involves a workaholic who uses the universal remote to skip over all the bad stuff in his life and discovers in the process that he is missing life itself. Take away the gimmick of the universal remote, and this is what a lot of us do, and it's sad.

It's not just sad, it's brutal. There's an undercurrent of cold, detached cruelty in the way Michael uses the magical device. He turns off the volume during an argument with his wife. He fast-forwards through a boring family dinner, and later through foreplay. He skips ahead to avoid a bad cold. He jumps to the chapter where he gets a promotion. Eventually, he realizes the family dog has died and been replaced by another, his kids have grown up, his wife is married to someone else, and he weighs 400 pounds. It happened while he wasn't paying attention.

Like many other Sandler movies, this one lingers studiously over bodily functions. After losing enormous amount of weight, for example, Michael plays with a big flap of loose skin around his stomach, plopping it up and down long after any possible audience curiosity has been satisfied. During an argument with his boss ( David Hasselhoff ), he freeze-frames the boss, jumps on his desk and farts. When he puts his boss back on "play," the boss inexplicably decides his secretary has put feces in his salad. Anyone who can't tell poop from lettuce doesn't deserve to be a senior partner. They teach you that in business school.

Michael is surrounded by patient and saintly people. His wife, Donna ( Kate Beckinsale ), loves him but despairs of reaching him. She has that standard wifely role of complaining when he has to work late and can't be at the swimming meet/Fourth of July party, etc. Michael's parents ( Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner ) are sweet and loving but kvetch too much and talk too slowly, so Michael zaps right through the time he has remaining with them.

I am not sure if this story device could possibly have been made funny. It could have been elevated into a metaphysical adventure, as in " Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ," or made to generate a series of paradoxes, as in " Being John Malkovich ," but "Click" stays resolutely at Level 1 -- the tiresome explication of the basic premise. Once we get the idea, there are no more surprises, only variations on the first one.

The movie does have some wit about its product placement. The plot is set in motion when Michael goes out late at night to buy a universal remote and only one store is open: Bed, Bath and Beyond. As a retail store name, this has always reminded me of the final subtitle in Kubrick's "2001," which was "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite." Beyond the infinite. That's a fair piece. In the store Michael enters, Bed and Bath are easy to find, but Beyond is behind a mysterious door at the end of a very long corridor, where a man named Morty ( Christopher Walken ) makes him a gift of the universal remote. If they make "Click 2," I want it to be about Morty.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Now playing

The People's Joker

Clint worthington.

Sweet Dreams

Matt zoller seitz.

Terrestrial Verses

Godfrey cheshire.

Sasquatch Sunset

Monica castillo.

The Idea of You

Film credits.

Click (2006)

Rated PG-13 for language, crude and sex related humor and some drug references

107 minutes

Adam Sandler as Michael Newman

Christopher Walken as Morty

Kate Beckinsale as Donna Newman

David Hasselhoff as Mr. Ammer

Sean Astin as Bill

Rachel Dratch as Alice/Alan

Henry Winkler as Ted Newman

Julie Kavner as Trudy Newman

Directed by

Frank Coraci
Steve Koren
Mark O'Keefe

Latest blog posts

Dear Tim Cook: Be a Decent Human Being and Delete this Revolting Apple Ad

The Problem and the Solution: Why Palpatine from Star Wars is One of the Great Movie Villains

A Good Reason to Be a Coward: Jim Cummings on The Last Stop in Yuma County

Launch Day for My Book, It's Time To Give a FECK! Book Tour Dates, Tamron Hall Show

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

What's the Tomatometer®?
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening this week
Top box office
Coming soon to theaters
Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

Fandango at Home
Netflix streaming
Prime Video
Most popular streaming movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Link to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
The Fall Guy Link to The Fall Guy
I Saw the TV Glow Link to I Saw the TV Glow

New TV Tonight

Doctor Who: Season 1
Dark Matter: Season 1
The Chi: Season 6
Reginald the Vampire: Season 2
Bodkin: Season 1
Blood of Zeus: Season 2
Black Twitter: A People's History: Season 1
Pretty Little Liars: Summer School: Season 2
Hollywood Con Queen: Season 1
Love Undercover: Season 1

Click Reviews

Despite all its inherent flaws and challenges, what can I say? It clicks.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 5, 2020

The film has its moments where it attempts to teach us about priorities and what should be important in our lives.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 13, 2020

A remote-control gizmo allows Adam Sandler to skip all of life's bad stuff and blows the whistle on current culture's instant-gratification laziness. It'll teach your kids to learn to take the bad with the good.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | May 17, 2020

A catchy little idea for a comedy catches a bad attack of the sads at the halfway mark, where the filmmakers mistakenly think it's time for some drama and a few lessons about the human condition.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 29, 2020

The concept never really takes off on screen. Moreover, the only way such presumably uplifting cinema can work is if one feels in some ways for the characters and situations.

Full Review | Jan 17, 2019

As a moral fable Click holds no surprises; as a Sandler comedy, it's unusually dark, occasionally touching and pretty funny.

Full Review | Mar 14, 2018

Click brings up some very real problems about adult life but it answers them with Hollywood platitudes ... granted, it's about having fun not trying to find solutions to the problems of modern existence, but it still seems a bit disingenuous.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Mar 18, 2011

A fascinating film with an unresolved comedy/tragedy axis

Full Review | Aug 30, 2009

"Click" is a one-trick-pony of a comedy.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Apr 23, 2009

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 20, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 7, 2008

As a broad family comedy this is perfectly acceptable, but from a sci-fi point of view it's a very pale imitation of the time travel classics it seeks to ape.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 30, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 7, 2007

For all its competing aspirations, the movie just never clicks.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 14, 2007

Back to the Future? Back to the drawing board!

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Apr 9, 2007

A movie with a lot of wasted potential. It looks like it was made by a bunch of schmucks.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Feb 15, 2007

It's kind of a reverse "It's A Wonderful Life" as Mike see's what happens to those around him when he pushes a button.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 13, 2006

What is surprising about Adam Sandler's latest comedy is that it still works despite its uneven tone and - while it is never laugh-out hilarious - makes nonetheless for passable entertainment . . .

Full Review | Nov 24, 2006

a fun little movie that impressed me more than it probably should

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 17, 2006

It's rather sad that the only laughs to come from this comedy are when its dramatic moments fail so much.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Oct 8, 2006

Where to Watch

Adam Sandler (Michael Newman) Kate Beckinsale (Donna Newman) Christopher Walken (Morty) David Hasselhoff (Ammer) Henry Winkler (Ted Newman) Julie Kavner (Trudy Newman) Sean Astin (Bill) Joseph Castanon (Ben Newman at 7 Years Old) Jonah Hill (Ben at 17 Years Old) Jake Hoffman (Ben Newman at 22-30 Years Old)

Frank Coraci

A workaholic architect finds a universal remote that allows him to fast-forward and rewind to different parts of his life. Complications arise when the remote starts to overrule his choices.

Recommendations

More about Click

Charlie Kaufman could have made a great movie out of Click , a soupy existential comedy about a "universal remote" …

“I’m so tired of my life,” whines Michael ( Adam Sandler ) as he crashes onto a bed in Bed, Bath & Beyond. It’s easy to see why it's such a burden: he's a healthy, successful architect with a sexy, caring wife ( Kate Beckinsale ) and two adorable children, living in a spacious house sitting in a safe neighborhood. Let’s take a moment of silence to mourn the man’s trials and tribulations.

Click is the story of an unhappy guy in desperate need of a George Bailey epiphany or a slap upside the head—whichever comes first. While wandering into the ‘Beyond’ section of the home-furnishings store, he meets a wacky Nutty Professor type named Morty ( Christopher Walken ) who holds the cure to all of his problems: a universal remote control that not only dictates electronic devices, but also his life. When Michael goes home he discovers that he can fast forward fights with his wife, watch a big-breasted woman jog in slow-motion, and lower the volume on his barking dog.

Since this is a lowbrow Adam Sandler comedy, the remote control is generally used as a guide to revel in immaturity. He hits the pause button on his smarmy boss ( David Hasselhoff ) to fart several times in his face, and gets revenge on a speedo-wearing coach ( Sean Astin ) by kicking him squarely in the nuts. In response to his strange behavior, his young daughter asks in nauseatingly scripted-fashion, “Did you smoke crack today, daddy?” By the fifth time the dog is shown humping a stuffed toy, it is clear the movie is headed for amateur night at the local comedy club.

When Michael’s remote begins to recognize patterns and do things automatically, Click gets serious. The trouble really hits when he speeds through time to land a big promotion, and loses months and then years while stuck on “auto-pilot”. Suddenly, Michael’s life is horribly depressing and he realizes that gosh, maybe his perfect existence wasn’t such a bummer after all; cue the feel-good music. While Click has good intentions, it never feels convincing or true-to-life. Without an emotional connection, it is just a wannabe Hallmark finale tacked onto an episode of “Jackass”.

Thank goodness for a great performance by an under-used Christopher Walken, an amusing scene involving a DVD commentary track by James Earl Jones, and a sweet turn by comedy legends Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner as beloved parents. Without these saving graces, absolutely nothing clicks. Director Frank Coraci ( The Wedding Singer ) re-teams with longtime friend Sandler, and writers Steve Koren & Mark O’Keefe ( Bruce Almighty ) admit that the jokes came easily to them (which explains why few are funny) and that they struggled more with the emotional journey (which explains why it’s a mess). Unfortunately with Click , Sandler has taken about three leaps backwards from Punch Drunk Love and 50 First Dates . Where’s a new Hanukah song when you really need one?

Tron: Ares Has Officially Wrapped Filming, And I Need Someone To Help Me Unblur These Mysterious Images

Tom Holland Didn't Attend The Met Gala With Zendaya, But He Did Get Pelted In The Face By A Golf Ball Instead

The Below Deck Crew Drama Got Even Worse This Week, And Fans Are Annoyed For Two Big Reasons

Most Popular

Upload poster

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune : Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner play Sandler's parents, and they redeem what they can of Click, although no one could salvage the ruthlessly sentimental later passages. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader : This comic fantasy is the best vehicle he's ever had, a high-concept goof that gradually darkens into an emotional nightmare reminiscent of Capra. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal : [Click] is an abomination. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times : Even with its attempt at deeper meaning and visual flair, those who don't look forward to Sandler's infantile humor and vacuous screen persona will find Click exceptionally bad entertainment. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle : One of the best American films of the year so far. The filmmakers take what might have been just a gimmicky premise and pursue it meticulously, following wherever it leads. Along the way, they create a shrewd and moving metaphor for the way people live. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper : I think if you're going to have a David Hasselhoff type of character and you're going to have the flatulence type of humor, then just go in that direction. Don't try to put in all this sappy stuff. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution : Writers Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe have taken a clever premise and given it a singularly unclever execution. The movie exists on several different, tonally incompatible planes. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club : Outside of a running joke about Sandler's dog humping a giant stuffed animal and the usual anger/pain humor that runs through his work, the film devotes most of its energy to a drearily sentimental lesson about what's really important. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic : Adam Sandler continues to crassly cannibalize Frank Capra films with Click, a movie that starts with comedic promise but ultimately degenerates into a maudlin mishmash. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe : Click gets its laughs and then sucker-punches us with sentiment; if it doesn't quite represent the new, improved Adam Sandler, it shows him almost desperately trying to figure out who that might be. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle : Watch Click -- a kind-hearted comic fable about a working father's prolonged supernatural comeuppance -- and tell me it doesn't yank the same chains as It's A Wonderful Life. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post : Click is a 95-minute illustration of the difference between 'funny' and 'laughable.' Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News : Its mix of cheap jokes, common fantasy and shared anxiety should resonate with just about anyone who has a pulse. Pause and have a good laugh. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly : Adam Sandler still coasts on American pop culture's peculiar indulgence of boys who won't grow up Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press : Everything about Click is so predictable that when it is released on home video, you will be able to watch it in a lot less than the 98 minutes it takes to see it in the theater. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News : It's a high-concept Adam Sandler comedy that never even scrapes the heights. The movie makes a graceless transition from drippy comedy to soggy melodrama. Either way, it's all wet. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly : Surely, nobody else could package the tragedy of a ridiculous man as a featherweight farce and have it turn into what I suspect will be a major hit. Sandler is young yet, but he could end up one of the genius men in American comedy. Read more

David Germain, Associated Press : The result is an Adam Sandler movie that works -- to a degree -- for just about everyone. Read more

Stephen Williams, Newsday : Walken is so adept and natural as Sandler's guiding light -- and his tormentor -- that he seems to be ad-libbing. It's an artful, endearing performance. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger : With its lurching blend of scatology, sentimentality and sci-fi, the movie is a mess. It's also sexist, bigoted and misanthropic. Of course, those qualities used to be part of the star's charm. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News : The film's overall problem is that it asks thoughtful moviegoers to appreciate its good intentions while ignoring its appeal to the basest of adolescent tastes. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel : Click is perfectly watchable, sometimes funny, and occasionally even touching. But it will be better when you can see it on DVD and fast-forward through all the crummy stuff. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews : It accomplishes what it sets out to do: tell an occasionally amusing, occasionally affecting drama about how adults often lose sight of what matters. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times : The movie is being sold as a comedy, but you know what? This isn't funny. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com : The jokes don't come frequently enough in Click, and aren't all that funny. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate : Click manages to sneak some surprisingly moving moments in between the gross-out gags and the schmaltzy resolutions. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch : Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail : Click is a premise in wandering pursuit of a movie. About two hours later, it calls off the search and doesn't so much end as stop. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star : Click is about an immature man's bumpy collision with maturity, and that's the perfect subject for the stubbornly frat-based talents of Adam Sandler. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out : A domestic tragedy masquerading as a frothy frolic. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today : This is not a truly awful movie, but it's not worth wasting money on. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety : Cleverly conceived but conspicuously unfunny. Read more

Michael Atkinson, Village Voice : It's a farce about loss, and it doesn't flinch. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post : A crass physical comedy of unrelenting irrelevance with a gag or two amid the many other examples of bad taste. Read more

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Forgotten username or password ?

Start a new list…
Add all films to a list…
Add all films to watchlist

Add to your films…

Press Tab to complete, Enter to create

A moderator has locked this field.

Add to lists

Where to watch

Directed by Frank Coraci

What If You Had A Remote... That Controlled Your Universe?

A harried workaholic, Michael Newman doesn't have time for his wife and children, not if he's to impress his ungrateful boss and earn a well-deserved promotion. So when he meets Morty, a loopy sales clerk, he gets the answer to his prayers: a magical remote that allows him to bypass life's little distractions with increasingly hysterical results.

Adam Sandler Kate Beckinsale Christopher Walken David Hasselhoff Henry Winkler Julie Kavner Sean Astin Joseph Castanon Jonah Hill Jake Hoffman Tatum McCann Lorraine Nicholson Katie Cassidy Cameron Monaghan Jennifer Coolidge Rachel Dratch Sophie Monk Michelle Lombardo Jana Kramer Nick Swardson Sidney Ganis Michael Yama Mio Takada Eiji Inoue Toshi Toda George K. Eguchi Katheryn Cain Frank Coraci Tim Herlihy Show All… Iryna Blokhina Emilio Cast Willy Goldstein Lily Mo Sheen Carolyn Hennesy Elena Patten Cheyenne Alexis Dean Elliott Cho Alan Au Ryan Keiser Christopher Levy Nickole Reyes Brianna Davis Robert Jones Jenae Altschwager Manish Goyal Marco Khan Ahmad Jordan Nick Hodaly Alireza Tanbakoochi John Pagano Dolores O'Riordan Sally Insul Rob Schneider Billy Slaughter James Earl Jones Theresa Barrera Elizabeth DeCicco Abra Chouinard Terry Crews Howard Fong Jorge Garcia Tracy Britton Jason Sandler Celeste Thorson Lana Titov

Director Director

Frank Coraci

Producers Producers

Mark O'Keefe Jack Giarraputo Neal H. Moritz Steve Koren Adam Sandler Tania Landau Kevin Grady Aimee Keen

Writers Writers

Steve Koren Mark O'Keefe

Casting Casting

Roger Mussenden Pamela Lynn Thomas

Editor Editor

Jeff Gourson

Cinematography Cinematography

Dean Semler

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Josh King Marcei A. Brown

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Tim Herlihy Barry Bernardi

Lighting Lighting

James J. Gilson

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Ian Fox Richard Merryman

Production Design Production Design

Perry Andelin Blake

Art Direction Art Direction

Alan Au Jeff Mossa John Collins

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Gary Fettis Evelyne Barbier Cosmas A. Demetriou Jeff Markwith Hugo Santiago

Special Effects Special Effects

John Hartigan

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Peter G. Travers David Taritero

Stunts Stunts

Paul Eliopoulos J. Mark Donaldson Michael H. Barnett J.J. Perry Max Daniels Nathan Siebring Vanessa Motta Thomas J. Larsen

Composer Composer

Rupert Gregson-Williams

Sound Sound

Thomas Causey Elmo Weber David Bach Russell Farmarco Orada Jusatayanond Clayton Weber Mark Allen Gary A. Hecker Michael J. Broomberg Brian Ruberg Jeffrey J. Haboush Bill W. Benton

Costume Design Costume Design

Ellen Lutter

Makeup Makeup

Rick Baker Ann Pala Kathleen Freeman Corina C. Duran-Rabichuk Bill Corso

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Thomas Real Nancy Tong

Original Film Revolution Studios Columbia Pictures Happy Madison Productions

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Portuguese Japanese

Releases by Date

23 jun 2006, 27 jul 2006, 11 aug 2006, 18 aug 2006, 21 sep 2006, 23 sep 2006, 27 sep 2006, 28 sep 2006, 29 sep 2006, 04 oct 2006, 05 oct 2006, 19 oct 2006, 29 oct 2006, 01 feb 2007, 10 oct 2006, 25 mar 2008, 01 jun 2009, releases by country.

Theatrical M
Theatrical L
Theatrical 12+
Theatrical TP
Theatrical 6
Theatrical T
Theatrical B

Netherlands

Physical 6 DVD & Blu-ray
TV 6 SBS 6
Theatrical M/12

South Korea

Theatrical 12
Theatrical 7
Theatrical PG-13
Physical PG-13 DVD & Blu-Ray

107 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by James (Schaffrillas) 6

I came into this world in a hospital that no longer stands.

The unfortunate truth about our awesome and terrible existence as a species is that the institutions we create will not last forever. Doors will be shuttered, and as the generations march on, so too will our life's work be lost to the cold, unfeeling annals of History.

However, this sentiment need not apply to art.

Indeed, our creations meant to challenge and entertain audiences may endure long after we and everything we have ever stood for crumble into dust. Artistic expression is among the most beautiful and everlasting Concepts humanity has been graced with, and to that end, it would not be unwise to express the sentiment that…

Review by pynechone ★★★★ 28

this is a good movie you fucks

Review by kangadoodoo ★½ 12

I didn't expect to cry, but I did.

Review by Eliza ★★★★★ 17

the premise is that capitalism makes balancing work and home life impossible and that to get ahead, you have to put your brain on auto-pilot and neglect your own happiness, damn

basically it’s a wonderful life 2 once the initial happy madison production type antics stop

Review by adambolt ★½ 1

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

When I was a kid, I cried at the scene where his dad dies.

This time, I cried when Adam Sandler paused time to fart in someone's face.

Review by Sethsreviews ★★★★½ 16

This dumb film means so much to me, and I will always defend it. I used to make my dad watch it every week as a kid, but he'd only let me if we watched Gladiator or Spartacus right after. There was nothing like going from an emotionally resonant, cheesy Sandler comedy to a big-budget, grand Hollywood epic on a school night.

Review by Parker ½ 8

Why does this movie get so deep and dark near the end? There should never ever be a scene where an old, dying Adam Sandler chases his family down in the rain and tells them with his last breath, "family is the most important thing" while the grim reaper looks on. YET HERE IT IS!

What makes the dark turn even weirder is that the first hour or so is just dick and fart jokes!!

And who the fuck would use a magic remote control to fast forward having sex with Kate Beckinsale? What the fuck kind of movie is this?!

Review by chloe 💓 ★★½ 2

a little too similar to the way i play sims 4

Review by beck ★★★

watch your fucking neck, black mirror!

Review by DirkH ★ 24

I tink I loosed a koppel of IQ pointz wail watsjing dis.

I shel go zit in a korner now ent wiep laik a babbie siel.

I stil fiel smarterder den Adam Sandler thou.

Review by megan ★★ 1

give me that fucking remote

Review by aksel ★½ 23

Well, this viewing experience was a wake up call

Similar Films

Select your preferred poster

Upgrade to remove ads.

Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Please consider upgrading to a Pro account —for less than a couple bucks a month, you’ll get cool additional features like all-time and annual stats pages ( example ), the ability to select (and filter by) your favorite streaming services, and no ads!

Become a Critical Movie Critic
Movie Review Archives

Movie Review: Click (2006)

General Disdain
Movie Reviews
One response
--> July 12, 2006

It’s been awhile since we’ve reviewed a movie starring Adam Sandler. Been even longer since we’ve actually looked forward to a movie starring Adam Sandler. But believe it or not, I was actually interested in watching Click . Perhaps I was hoping for comedy genius to strike again for him (see “Waterboy” or “Happy Gilmore”) — after all the premise for Click seemed ripe for the picking; an out of luck guy gets a remote control that can change ever aspect of his life. Boy oh boy could I ever be so let down.

Now don’t get me wrong, the movie isn’t particularly bad. It’s just not what I expected. Click is — gasp — actually more of tear-jerker, quasi-drama than a comedy. While there are several funny moments in the movie, it is really a heartfelt movie chronicling life and expressing how one should accept the little nuances and aggravations, as these are the things that make our lives complete. The ultimate problem, from my viewpoint, is the director (Frank Coraci) really isn’t sure which way he wants the movie to lean. Meaning, although Click is supposed to be a comedy — it doesn’t quite live up to it. And although the movie is supposed to be a drama — it doesn’t quote live up to that either.

That being said, the movie is well acted. Adam Sandler clearly tones down his typical idiot act and does surprising well (he also did well in “Punch-Drunk Love”). Christopher Walken is ALWAYS a pleasure to watch. That man simple transcends all boundaries. Kate Beckinsale should have been naked (she should ALWAYS be naked).

More importantly, Click will have you thinking about all the stupid things in your life (puking on your mother-in-law, snorting Draino, etc) and wondering whether you’d fast forward through them or plod along. Good idea, just could have been presented a bit better. For the most part, however, you’ll enjoy the movie and if you’re not careful (or if you have a body full of estrogen) you may even find your eyes welling up with tears.

Tagged: death , family , time travel

I'm an old, miserable fart set in his ways. Some of the things that bring a smile to my face are (in no particular order): Teenage back acne, the rain on my face, long walks on the beach and redneck women named Francis. Oh yeah, I like to watch and criticize movies.

Movie Review: Ghosted (2023) Movie Review: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) Movie Review: Fantasy Island (2020) Movie Review: Snatched (2017) Movie Review: Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) Movie Review: ABCs of Death 2 (2014) Movie Review: Life After Beth (2014)

'Movie Review: Click (2006)' has 1 comment

July 21, 2007 @ 8:07 am just-4-teens

worth watching even if its only the once.

| Log in

Click (United States, 2006)

We know from experience that Adam Sandler has a fondness for Frank Capra. After all, is there anything odder than watching Sandler channel Gary Cooper in a remake of Mr. Deeds (Goes to Town) ? Actually, there is. It's watching Sandler channel Jimmy Stewart in Click , a film that owes more than a little to It's a Wonderful Life . In fact, while it's more of an indirect remake of Dickens' A Christmas Carol , the Capra-esque overtones are there. To round things out, Sandler throws in a little Rip Van Winkle and nod to Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle." However, while Mr. Deeds didn't work, Click (perhaps surprisingly) does. It's because Sandler doesn't throw out the drama in a quest for laughs. There are times when the comedian falls back on his typical shtick, but the film doesn't shy away from the darkness inherent in this kind of story, and it has a heart. Sandler is Scrooge in the last act of A Christmas Carol and George Bailey in the last act of It's a Wonderful Life , and he does justice to those who have preceded him down this path.

Even though the film has been directed by "Sandler vet" Frank Coraci ( The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer ), the film may cause disappointment amongst the die-hard rank-and-file even as it presents a more appealing Sandler to mainstream audiences. The nastiness and vulgarity that have long been associated with Sandler's comedy are largely missing in action, excepting a few scenes. Then again, Sandler has been moving away from this image over the last few years, using Jim Carrey's career as a template. He's hoping his fans will grow with him; reaction to Click may go a long way to answering whether they will.

At least on the surface, movies don't get more high concept than Click : a man obtains a "universal" remote controller that allows him to manage not only the TV but his entire life. He can fast-forward and rewind his reality, skipping unpleasant things like busywork and arguments with his spouse while re-living pleasant times, like his first date with the woman he would marry. But the remote is dangerous, and he starts using it as a substitute for living through bad times. Worse still, it's an intelligent remote and, after it learns his patterns, it fast forwards through large chunks of his life. By the end, he has learned wisdom, but at a terrible price. However, as in A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life , he is given a second chance.

The man in question is Michael Newman (Sandler), a hard working architect who has little time for his loving wife, Donna (Kate Beckinsale) and his two kids, Ben and Samantha. He's too busy working for his arrogant, preening boss, Ammer (David Hasselhoff). One night, after discovering that he can't turn on the TV without operating the ceiling fan or garage door, Michael heads out in search of a universal remote. The only store still open is Bad Bath and Beyond. In the "Beyond" part of the store, he encounters mad scientist Morty (Christopher Walken), who gives Michael the ultimate universal remote, but with a caveat: he cannot return it.

Click makes ample use of the fast-forward button, and occasional use of the pause and rewind buttons. Yet there's a lot of potential left untapped. Consider, for example, the DVD-like menu for Michael's life which features a commentary by James Earl Jones and other special features. These function as punchlines to a couple of gags, but not much more. One has to wonder what Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman could have developed from this premise. But we have to work with what he have, not what might have been.

The film features some jarring tonal transitions as it juxtaposes Sandler's trademark crude humor with pathos. Michael's boss, his wife's brassy best friend (Jennifer Coolidge), and the unappealing kid next-door (Cameron Monaghan) receive the Sandler treatment. Yes, there is a fart joke - and it's a pretty long and loud one. And the family dog humps a stuffed animal. Eventually, however, the jokes become more widely spaced and low-key as the drama takes over. We start to feel for Michael and the growing tragedy of his life. He's not a bad guy - just someone who has gotten caught up in the rat race and lost sight of his priorities. His "farewell" to his father (Henry Winkler) is accomplished with Scrooge-like precision. It's sad to watch him mourn everything he has lost. If not for the reboot that we know is coming, Click would have been heartbreaking.

I can't let the review pass without making mention of the aging and de-aging affects. Because the movie spans a long time period, characters are forced to look older and younger than the actors who play them. The old-age makeup is what we have come to expect - not terribly realistic, but acceptable. However, when it comes to the CGI used to return Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner (as Michael's parents) to their youth, the filmmakers should have taken lessons from the effects crew for X-Men 3 . In Click , it looks awful - wax-like and artificial. It's a little thing, but sometimes it's the little things that linger.

While Sandler has more room to grow before he's considered for an Oscar nomination, he has moved beyond the angry-boy-in-a-man's-body phase. He's comfortable in this role, which might not have been true five years ago. Kate Beckinsale, despite being underused, is adorable, although I sort of miss the skintight leather garments. David Hasselhoff continues his recent trend of poking fun at himself at every turn. Rarely has anyone gotten more mileage from self-parody. Christopher Walken is Christopher Walken, although he tones down the weirdness a little. Finally, there's Sean Astin in a speedo - one of those moments I wish I hadn't been subjected to.

Click is flawed but, on balance, it works. It accomplishes what it sets out to do: tell an occasionally amusing, occasionally affecting drama about how adults often lose sight of what matters. There's no subtlety in the approach, but there wasn't any in either A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life , either. There's more to the film than meets the eye from the commercials and trailers, but the question lingers for Sandler's fans (those who keep his movies at the top of the box office): Is that a good thing or not? For me, there's no question it's the former.

Comments Add Comment

Princess Bride, The (1987)
City Lights (1931)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Feast (2006)
Dumb and Dumberer (2003)
Freddy Got Fingered (2001)
Uncut Gems (2019)
50 First Dates (2004)
Punch Drunk Love (2002)
Mixed Nuts (1994)
Pixels (2015)
Just Go with It (2011)
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
Vacancy (2007)
Aviator, The (2004)
Van Helsing (2004)
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Underworld: Evolution (2006)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Antz (1998)
Annie Hall (1977)
Envy (2004)
War with Grandpa, The (2020)
Prophecy, The (1995)

"Family Comes First"

What You Need To Know:

(PaPa, B, FR, M) Mixed pagan worldview with light moral elements and moral premise in a theologically liberal Jewish family, including a couple references and allusions to God and supernatural powers, a moral message that family comes before work, plus off-color humor and plenty of foul language as selfish protagonist must go through some hard life lessons; 27 obscenities, including one “f” word and one “f” word cut off, two or three strong profanities, and six light profanities; light comic violence; depicted animal lust and depicted sex between married couple in silhouette, plus joke about woman getting a sex change operation; upper male nudity and rear male nudity in silhouette; alcohol use; smoking ; and, lying, father neglects his family and boss manipulates a colleague.

More Detail:

CLICK, Adam Sandler’s new comedy, has many allusions to that great family movie classic, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Regrettably, it’s also got a contemporary, liberal attitude that allows for a lot of off-color jokes and foul language. The main moral message of the movie is that family comes first.

In the story, Sandler plays young Jewish architect Michael Newman. Michael is trying to become partner at his firm, but his boss keeps taking him away from time with his family.

Trouble with all the remotes in the house inspires a frustrated Michael to make a late-night trip to get a “universal remote.” The electronic stores are closed, however, and Michael ends up at Bed, Bath and Beyond. After lying down on one of their display beds for a moment, Michael notices a door labeled “Beyond.” There, he meets a ruffled service attendant named Morty, played by Christopher Walken, who gives Michael the latest, most mysterious universal remote you ever saw.

Back home, Michael learns that the remote is a real universal remote. He starts using the remote to mute the barks of the family pet dog, to speed through arguments with his wife and to speed through the boring parts of his family life. Michael uses the remote to close a big deal with some Japanese clients, but his boss delays his promised promotion until Michael finishes the designs for the deal. So, Michael speeds up his life until he gets to his promotion.

Back home, however, the remote starts automatically speeding up through the kinds of family time that he started skipping earlier. Michael soon finds himself skipping whole years of his life, which gets darker and darker the older he gets.

CLICK is like one of those comical TWILIGHT ZONE episodes where the character makes a deal with the Devil but gets more than he bargained. Like those episodes, it delivers a couple positive moral messages at the end. There are, however, several visual references to dogs trying to have sex with toys and a couple human sex scenes done in silhouette. The movie is also full of foul language throughout, including one “f” word.

As the movie’s moral premise notes, family does indeed come first; but, as Christians know, God and Jesus Christ come before family.

4000+ Faith Based Articles and Movie Reviews – Will you Support Us?

Our small team works tirelessly to provide resources to protect families from harmful media, reviewing 415 movies/shows and writing 3,626 uplifting articles this year. We believe that the gospel can transform entertainment. That’s why we emphasize positive and faith-filled articles and entertainment news, and release hundreds of Christian movie reviews to the public, for free. No paywalls, just trusted, biblically sound content to bless you and your family. Online, Movieguide is the closest thing to a biblical entertainment expert at your fingertips. As a reader-funded operation, we welcome any and all contributions – so if you can, please give something. It won’t take more than 52 seconds (we timed it for you). Thank you.

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

For Parents
For Educators
Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

Get the app
Movie Reviews
Best Movie Lists
Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best TV Lists
Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
Common Sense Selections for TV
Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

Book Reviews
Best Book Lists
Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Game Reviews
Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Podcast Reviews
Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

App Reviews
Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

YouTube Channel Reviews
YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

Explaining the News to Our Kids

Family Tech Planners
Digital Skills
All Articles
Latino Culture
Black Voices
Asian Stories
Native Narratives
LGBTQ+ Pride
Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

Parents say (9)
Kids say (99)

Based on 9 parent reviews

Silky movie with heartwarming message

This title has:

Report this review

A fun fantasy., amazing film, great moral but some risky scenes, cool movie, good comedy film 12+.

Supported by

‘Wildcat’ Review: Seeing Flannery O’Connor Through Her Stories

Ethan Hawke teams up with his daughter, Maya Hawke, for an unconventional and somewhat muddled portrait of a singular author.

Share full article

A woman reads a letter at a country roadside mailbox labeled O’Connor.

By Brandon Yu

Bedridden and anguished, the writer Flannery O’Connor is visited by a priest (Liam Neeson in a cameo) in “Wildcat,” starring Maya Hawke. Tormented by spiritual agony and the systemic lupus that would kill her at 39, O’Connor, a lifelong Catholic, beseeches him: “I long for grace,” she cries. “I see it, I know it’s there, but I can’t touch it.”

There’s the seed of a good film in this scene, but the filmmakers can’t quite latch onto it. These intriguing wisps of ideas — about O’Connor’s struggle with faith and purpose — never coalesce into a coherent portrait in the movie (directed by Maya Hawke’s father, Ethan), which is presented as being based on O’Connor’s short stories.

The film is meant to animate her life through her work, with its observations about religion, violence and society’s hypocrisy, but that adventurous conceit can’t be fulfilled without some elements of a biopic. What we are left with is a movie that flits between incidents from the life of this National Book Award-winner, writing on the family farm in Georgia, among other places, and a distracted supercut of her particular, and often darkly comic, brand of Southern Gothic fiction. Half-sketched and sometimes hard to follow, the stories glimpsed here ultimately fail to produce a fully legible or consistently engaging arc of what must be a roiling inner world.

Maya Hawke’s performance, in turn, is muddled; she can be strong as O’Connor, but in the fictional pieces, her portrayals are often reduced to clumsy caricatures. The period re-creation is striking and helps generate occasionally spellbinding imagery, but the enduring sense of the film is of a family project that is by turns frustrating and briefly enlightening.

Wildcat Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In theaters.

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

The Netflix stalker series “ Baby Reindeer ” combines the appeal of a twisty thriller with a deep sense of empathy. The ending illustrates why it’s become such a hit .

We have entered the golden age of Mid TV, where we have a profusion of well-cast, sleekly produced competence, our critic writes .

The writer-director Alex Garland has made it clear that “Civil War” should be a warning. Instead, the ugliness of war comes across as comforting thrills .

Studios obsessively focused on PG-13 franchises and animation in recent years, but movies like “Challengers” and “Saltburn” show that Hollywood is embracing sex again .

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime and Hulu to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

an image, when javascript is unavailable

Does ‘Bodkin’ Love True-Crime Podcasts or Want to Make Fun of Them?

By Alan Sepinwall

Alan Sepinwall

In Netflix ‘s new series Bodkin , hard-bitten newspaper reporter Dove (Siobhán Cullen) is forced to team up with veteran podcaster Gilbert ( Will Forte ) to investigate a 25-year-old mystery in the eponymous Irish town. The reluctant partners clash on everything, not least of which is that Dove thinks they can, and should, find out what really happened in Bodkin back in the day.

“Have you ever listened to a podcast where they actually solve it?” Gilbert asks, incredulous. “I need diversions. Red herrings. Human interest. The stuff that people actually care about .”

Editor’s picks

Every awful thing trump has promised to do in a second term, the 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, the 50 worst decisions in movie history.

I spent most of the seven episodes of Bodkin wondering whether Scharf thought Gilbert was good at his job or a buffoon who deserved the contempt of the cynical Dove. Much of the evidence pointed to the latter theory. He’s played by Will Forte, whose specialty is playing overconfident clowns, and whose performance at times seems to point in a MacGruber direction. Gilbert’s podcast narration, which bookends each episode of the TV show, is melodramatic and riddled with cliches, like the time he explains, “The problem with questions is the answers. Sometimes, the more you learn, the less you know.”

On the other hand, Forte gets to dial back the silliest aspects of his performance over time, as we discover that Gilbert’s real life is a lot more fragile and complicated than the persona he projects when he’s in front of a microphone. And the other characters at times speak just like him — “There are some questions that aren’t made to be answered,” one suspect tells law-enforcement in a later episode — in a way suggesting that creator Jez Scharf and company(*) think this is perfectly fine dialogue.

'Here We Woe Again': Thing Hand-Delivers 'Wednesday' Season Two Script in New Teaser

David beckham admits doc director was 'angry' about viral 'be honest' bit, kevin hart honored (and humiliated) in trailer for mark twain prize special, 'word salad': andrew huberman's cannabis misinformation slammed by experts, the results are in: kendrick lamar won the great rap war, why grown-ass women love the idea of 'the idea of you', steve albini, noise rock pioneer and 'in utero' engineer, dead at 61.

But the show understandably has to keep returning to the mystery, which feels overly complicated even for seven hours of television. Perhaps this is itself a tribute to the kind of true crime podcast Gilbert has come to specialize in, where those red herrings have to do a lot of the work. If so, it would at least solve the mystery of whether Bodkin has affection for podcasting, or is gently mocking the form.

Kelly Clarkson Wins Key Rulings Ahead of New Trial With Ex-Husband

By Nancy Dillon

How to Watch 'Eurovision' 2024: Live Stream the Song Contest Online

streaming guide
By Sage Anderson

Maya Rudolph Has Been Living in a Closet at 30 Rock for 17 Years Waiting for Her 'SNL' Return

I Never Left
By Larisha Paul

Andy Cohen Calls Numerous 'Housewives' Allegations 'Hurtful,' But He Has 'No Regrets'

Reality Reckoning
By Jon Blistein

'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' Takes the Series One Evolutionary Step Backward

MOVIE REVIEW
By David Fear

Most Popular

Emily blunt says she's 'absolutely' wanted to throw up after kissing certain actors during filming: 'i've definitely not enjoyed some of it.', jerry seinfeld's 'unfrosted' divides critics: "one of decade's worst movies", serena williams' ethereal white swimsuit photoshoot shows the way she’s exercising after baby no. 2, no a’s in attendance: oakland trails a whopping 553 u.s. teams, you might also like, george mackay reunites with ‘for those in peril’ director paul wright for bbc film, screen scotland, ffilm cmryu wales-backed ‘mission,’ blue finch films boards sales (exclusive), watches of switzerland group buys jeweler roberto coin inc., the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, art directors guild suspends training program: ‘we cannot in good conscience encourage you to pursue our profession’, jokic joins elite company with third nba mvp award.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

Cast & crew
User reviews

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for a... Read all Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike. Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he's been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.