人生遥控器——英文影评

《Click》Feed Back

Michael Newman seems to have a perfect life- a beautiful wife, two small children, and a job with great potential. But as his jerky boss passes Michael up for promotion after promotion, Michael becomes fed up, and wishes he could find a way to just, oh, skip through the hard parts in life. He gets exactly that -and much, much more- when he stumbles upon the Beyond section of a Bed, Bath, and Beyond in search of a universal remote. But as it turns out, the remote controls, well, the entire universe! At first this seems a blessing, but as the remote begins to program itself Michael finds his life skipping by, sometimes a few months, sometimes years. Going in to this movie ---- Click I expected to have the normal 2 hour thoughtless escape from everyday life that these type movies normally deliver. Instead I laughed. I even cried. I left pleasantly surprised. Leaving the theatre I couldn't help reflect upon the need to really appreciate life's little moments and close friends and family more. Walken was outstanding. Sandler was effective and really funny in his toned down approach to this more intelligent comedy than the usual Sandler fare. Kate Beckinsale is very lovable as the wife and mother of his children and Hasslehoff couldn't have been more perfectly cast as the cluelessly self-absorbed exec/ boss. I liked it a lot and I'm not normally one to feel either way about these type of movies. I'd go see it next time with family and friends that I really should spend more time with anyway!

Nearly all of Adam Sandler's films have been one-joke affairs. Which might not be so bad, except that there's only so long one joke can be stretched until it becomes overly repetitive and tiresome.

What makes "Click" particularly disappointing is that it didn't have to be so limited in scope. Not that you really expect an Adam Sandler movie to be thoughtful, but this fantasy-flavored comedy is just as full of lowbrow humor as any of the rest, including gags about the sexual habits of family pets, flatulence and male anatomy.

After he teased us with some recent, supposedly more "mature" performances in "Punch Drunk Love" and "Spanglish," Sandler has simply reverted to his expected juvenile form here.

He stars as Michael Newman, a workaholic architect. Michael's wife, Donna (Kate Beckinsale), is getting tired of his work-first, family-second routine, especially since he seems to miss most of his kids' biggest moments.

Michael, on the other hand, wants more control over his life — or at least some control over his household. So he's thrilled when a mysterious store clerk named Morty (Christopher Walken) offers him a new universal remote —free of charge.

And this remote-control device really is universal, giving Michael the power to skip over periods of his life. One of the film's few really clever bits is having Michael's life with an "audio commentary" narrated by James Earl Jones.

As expected, Michael does learn a hard lesson about missing out on the smaller moments, including the various disagreements and trying times. But this would-be knock-off of "It's a Wonderful Life" feels too mechanical. Actually, it looks more like the justifiably forgotten Robin Williams film "Bicentennial Man" — though this one is, mercifully, nearly 30 minutes shorter.

Sandler got his longtime cohort Frank Coraci ("The Waterboy") to direct, and he's clearly out of his comfort zone with this type of material. He's unable to get Sandler to dial down some of his more obnoxious performance tendencies, and he really wastes a wacky supporting turn by Walken, as well as Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner, who play Michael's parents.

It seems that Morty has created a device that will not only allow Michael complete control over his television and stereo, but his entire life as well. As Michael discovers that the remarkable device has the power to muffle the barks of the family dog, zoom himself past an irritating quarrel with his wife, and even allow him to travel back and forth through time to different points in his life, the rush of being able to skip straight to the good parts in life soon leaves him feeling as if he's missing out on the total experience. Only when