Click

Workaholic father Michael Newman (Sandler) finds it increasingly difficult to juggle his demanding family life with his even more demanding work life. So, while looking for a universal remote to make his life easier, he finds a magic universal remote that makes his life easier - for a while. Everything is awesome at first: lowering down the volume on the dog, looking at bouncing jugs in slow motion - but the situation soon becomes complicated way beyond his control. Adam Sander is pretty much the marmite of comedy. People either love him or hate him, and with the exception of a couple of fine performances (Punch Drunk Love, Spanglish), he has been pretty much recycling the same character over and over since the excellent Happy Gilmore kicked the comedic crap out of us ten years ago. Here, while the central message is one of undeniable warmth and heart, it can't camouflage the fact that this is an incredibly tired effort from Sandler and co. Whilst initially playing to his strengths as the everyman struggling with, well, everything, it soon loses its way as the plot goes (inexplicably) science fiction. Click gets further and further up its own arse as the drawn-out conclusion lumbers to a shabby end. No amount of charm can make up for a mediocre script, sloppily handled by a director struggling to grasp the fundamentals of comedy. There is no doubting that Sandler can be genuinely great - but the hit machine that he now is, seems reluctant to veer even slightly from the norm (slapstick comedy followed by heavy-handed sentiment). It's a shame, because Click has a concept that is almost stupid enough to work; unfortunately, it turns out to be just plain stupid.