Adam Sandler can make good movies.  He only needs to stop the urge of acting like an idiot.  But, as many people will probably guess, this is unlikely to happen.  As Sandler (Deuce Bigalow:  European Gigolo, The Longest Yard) gets older (he's married with a kid now), his movies are changing a bit.  Now, instead of movies full of stupid humor, Sandler is making family movies with stupid humor.  He's still at his best in movies like Punch-Drunk Love, where no traces of his trademark humor are present.  Click is a thematic continuation of Spanglish, where Sandler is now a family man.  While he may be a husband and father, he still has some growing up to do.  There's a bit more heart and a bit less crudity than his early films, but at its core, it's still a Sandler movie.  In the case of Click, this is pretty disappointing.

Somewhere within the jumbled script, there is a real story here about a man too focused on the long term to focus on the here and now.  Click cannot decide whether or not it wants to be a heart-warming sentimental story or a moronic comedy.  Combining the two does not mesh.  Each genre ruins the other.  It's not funny watching Sandler fart into David Hasselhoff's face (no matter how many people truly wish they could) or watching the joke about a dog humping a stuffed animal repeated four times.  To those who do find this funny, they will find the screenplay by Steve Koren (Bruce Almighty, Superstar) and Mark O'Keefe (Bruce Almighty) sappy.  And it is.  But it would have had a chance of working without the potty humor.

Sandler is Michael Newman, an architect who struggles to balance time between work and family.  Family typically loses.  He wants to be able to provide for his family, and thinks that his promotion to partner is just around the corner.  His wife Donna (Kate Beckinsale, Underworld:  Evolution, The Aviator) is afraid that he's missing out on his children's childhoods.  Ben (Joseph Castanon) and Samantha (Tatum McCann) are 7 and 5, and adorable in the generic movie child way.  They adore their dad and wish they could spend more time with him, but understand that he's busy at work.  A particularly busy 4th of July, and a missed camping trip prompts Newman to vent his frustration to Morty (Christopher Walken, Domino, Wedding Crashers), and employee at Bed, Bath & Beyond (in a crass case of product placement), who gives him a universal remote.  Newman believes this remote can consolidate the functions of his television, fireplace, garage door opener, Ben's toys, and the fan.

As anybody who saw the trailer or commercials knows, the universal remote is truly "universal."  Newman can use it to mute his wife's argument or his dog's barking, or to fast forward through boring tasks like showering, dressing, and commuting.  With his new remote, he can fast-forward through his weekend of heavy work, so before he knows it, he's done.  Newman can fast-forward through his cold, so when he wakes up, he's all better.  And he only missed a few days.  Yes, this man is incredibly lazy.  He uses the remote as a crutch, relying on it to skip through all the bad or dull things in life.  Director Frank Coraci (Around the World in 80 Days, The Waterboy) actually does something with the story, as Newman's penchant for fast-forwarding comes back to haunt him.  Unfortunately, the decision to include the moronic humor obliterates any attempt at poignancy or emotion.  Take all the junk out, and Click would be a decent movie.  Leave it in, and it's all material to be fast-forwarded through.