Click

Adam Sandler's latest film, Click, almost put me to sleep. The only laughs in the first three-fourths of the film appeared in the trailer. They're cute, but you can't make a movie out of a few cute moments.

Sandler plays an architect with a killer job and stupidly egotistical boss. And he takes out his anger on his loving family. My God, Kate Beckinsale was the love interest for two men in "Pearl Harbor," Adam! But he continues to ignore her, ignore her protests, ignore her sexually. He ignores the kids, too, as all of his energy goes to a job that is totally unsatisfying and a boss who doesn't follow through on his promises. Most of the action here is inaction, and it's telegraphed. We see where it's leading. The only mystery here is that Kate doesn't leave him in the first 15 minutes.

Sandler's character gets a universal remote control from Christopher Walken, who's working out of the back warehouse of a Bed, Bath and Beyond. The clicker has the ability to speed up life, slow it down, even freeze it, just like your T.V. remote. You can even review certain parts of your life with it, and from another perspective. Imagine watching your parents as you're born... There are huge opportunities here to do wonderful things, and yet Sandler's character blows them on slowing down a woman jogger for the jiggle factor, or going into stop motion so that the next door neighbor kid gets walloped in the face.

We don't even like this guy. He's shallow. He has a mean streak longer than the Golden Gate. He says all the right words to his family about love but doesn't follow through by giving the greatest gift of all: his time and attention. The clicker in the movie allows us to see his shortcomings through a magnifying lens.

The best part of this film is when we realize, as he realizes, that he's fast-forwarding through the best parts of his life. Walken confronts him when Sandler tries to give up the remote by telling him he had been fast-forwarding through his life long before he got the remote. And we know it's true.

There are some great character actors in this film. Henry Winkler is wonderful as granddad. I didn't even recognize Julie Kavner as grandma until I heard that well-known nasal voice of hers. And David Hasselhoff, it appears, has made the best decision of his life by allowing others to poke fun of his macho image; he is hysterical here! Christopher Walken is always interesting, but even moreso in this role because we're not sure how ditsy or nice the guy really is.

The best part of this film is that this is a believable schmuck, in a situation that is as real as can be. Can he be redeemed? That's in the last fourth of the film. If you can wait long enough and wade through sophomoric humor to get there, you'll find out.

Thumb's up, barely.