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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Click (2006)

Click (2006)

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Released 5-Dec-2006

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Main Menu Audio & Animation
Audio Commentary-Cast & Crew
Deleted Scenes
Featurette-Make Me Old & Fat, Design My Universe, Cars Of The Future
Featurette-Humping Dogs, Director's Take, Fine Cooking
Trailer-Talladega Nights;The Ballad Of Richy Bobbie, Open Season
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2006
Running Time 103:07
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4,5 Directed By Frank Coraci
Studio
Distributor
SONY Pictures
Sony Pictures Home Entertain
Starring Adam Sandler
Kate Beckinsale
Christopher Walken
David Hasselhoff
Henry Winkler
Julie Kavner
Sean Astin
Case Amaray-Opaque
RPI $32.95 Music Rupert Gregson-Williams


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Czech Dolby Digital 5.1 (320Kb/s)
Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Polish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
Greek
Arabic
Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
Estonian
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Icelandic
Lithuanian
Polish
Romanian
Serbian
Slovenian
Turkish
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

   I've got to admit I have never been much of an Adam Sandler fan and apart from the hilarious The Wedding Singer have found the Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, et al. films nothing more than completely annoying and childish rubbish. His penchant for playing the angry or distressed boy inside a man's body has been played way too often in my opinion. So when Click came for review I didn't hold too many expectations, but I'll happily admit right from the start - this is an entertaining film with some great laughs and a bit of a life message to boot as it takes inspiration from such classics as Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life.

    Have you got too many remote controls? Need a new universal remote to clear the clutter and take some control of your life?

    Well imagine if you had a real universal remote control that not only can adjust the volume and channels on your television but also your life and the world around you as well. Wife been nagging you a bit? Simply hit the mute button and she'll be quiet. Got an unpleasant day at the office planned? Just fast forward through to tomorrow and skip the bad bits. Want to go back to a good moment in your life and re-live it complete with audio commentary - easy, just navigate the menu and select the special features.

    It sounds like a dream come true and for Michael Newman (Adam Sandler), a workaholic architect with a lovely wife (Kate Beckinsale looking as good as ever) and a couple of adoring kids to which he pays scant attention. It sounds like just the gadget he needs to get his life back on track. With an arrogant, womanising boss (a hammy David Hasslehoff taking the mickey out of himself yet again) calling the shots and demanding more work, Michael can't see he's losing his grip on his family and his sanity. One night, after discovering that he can't turn on the TV without operating the garage door at the same time, Michael heads out in search of a new universal remote. It seems the only store still open this late hour is a "Bad Bath and Beyond" homewares outlet. In the "Beyond" part of the shop, he runs into an eccentric scientist called Morty (Christopher Walken) who knows just what he is after and gives Michael the ultimate universal remote. But it comes with a condition - he cannot return it - ever.

    Michael is a little dubious at first, but soon realises the remote has some amazing capabilities. It's power is revealed as Michael pauses his boss in the middle of a tirade and gives him a good slap (cue the obligatory fart joke here too), sets up the obnoxious kid next door for the ultimate embarrassment, and mutes his wife's annoying friend before she starts to strip paint off the wall with her constant whining.

    But we quickly learn that this magical remote control is also dangerous. Michael starts hitting fast forward whenever his life hits a bad moment or skipping through days he'd rather not face. Pretty soon the remote reveals it has learning capabilities, picking up on all of Michael's fast forwarding habits. Before he knows it large chunks of his life have been skipped and his wife is seeking divorce because he seems to be coasting through their marriage as if in a constant daydream. But just as all seems lost and Michael's life is heading towards its end at 32x speed fast forward, he learns the error of his ways and is given a second chance to redeem himself.

    What starts out as a slapstick style comedy with toilet humour aplenty slowly metamorphasises into a fable-like tale with a strong message about not wishing your life away and making the most out of what you have got. Some of the production design is excellent (the DVD menu of Michael's life, complete with booming commentary track provided by James Earl Jones is truly inspired), while the special effects and soundtrack are also excellent. The performances of the supporting cast including Kate Beckinsale as Michael's lovely young wife and Henry Winkler as his dad lend some acting credibility, if you can only handle too much of "The Hoff".

    A fun film that might just go some way to restoring some faith that Adam Sandler can actually star in a decent movie.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    This transfer is rich, vibrant, sharp, and very very impressive. It is as good as a standard definition DVD can look. Shot on high definition video (the quality of which even surprised the director), it is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness level is superb with no hint of edge enhancement. Shadow detail is never lacking, even in the dim interiors or the various night-time scenes. Grain is absent and there is no low level noise evident.

    The colours in this film are a strong point with a solid, rich and bold palette used throughout. It is impressive with no hint of oversaturation or bleeding.

    There were no apparent MPEG artefacts. Film-to-video artefacts are also absent as are film artefacts.

    There are stacks of subtitles available. The English variety are pretty good with few abridgements or omissions.

    This is an RSDL formatted disc, though I was unable to detect the layer change.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio transfer offers superb quality and range with some real punch and surround activity, offering an immersive experience.

    There are five soundtracks on offer. The first is a marvellous English Dolby Digital 5.1 encoded at 448Kb/s. Other tracks on offer included Czech, Hungarian and Polish Dolby Digital 5.1 efforts. Rounding out the selection is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Audio Commentary soundtrack encoded at 192Kb/s. I listened to both English tracks in their entirety.

    There are no apparent dialogue problems. It is crisp and clear at all times with no audio sync issues. The soundtrack packs quite a punch at times and will catch a lot of viewers by surprise on a few occasions. I loved it when the DVD menu of Michael's life popped up in the middle of the film with James Earl Jones' booming voice delivering an amusing audio commentary.

    The music is quite a diverse mix with several songs provided by Rick Ocasek (former lead man from The Cars) including Magic plus offerings from The Cranberries with Linger (quote pivotal to the plot and look at for the cameo from Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan), U2 and The Strokes.

    The surround channels are well-used, especially during the DVD menu scenes.

    The subwoofer is used extensively and provides some excellent low bass output

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Audio Commentary - Cast and Crew

    The commentary track has Adam Sandler joined by director Frank Coraci, writer Steve Koren and executive producer Tim Herlihy. A pretty relaxed commentary that offers a few anecdotes and the like, but is really not all that interesting in the grand scheme of things.

Deleted Scenes

    There are just four deleted scenes that run for a combined 3:08. Precious little is revealed in these scenes so the reason for the cuts is obvious.

Featurette - Make Me Old and Fat

     A 6:35 featurette that looks at some of the aging makeup and costumes used to great effect in the film. Renowned makeup effects man Rick Baker was in charge of the production and the film was nominated for an Academy Award for his efforts.

Featurette - FX of Click (5:10)

    A look at some of the dazzling, yet always subtle special effects used in the film. Probably a little too brief to be of any real value though.

Featurette - Cars of the Future

    Running for 3:10, this is a look at the conceptual artist's work in designing some of the vehicles used in the future scenes of the film.

Featurette - Humping Dogs (1:12)

     A snippet of how the makers managed to make the dog look like it was humping the large toy duck. Funny but again too short.

Featurette - Director's Take (4:23)

     A salute to director Frank Coraci. It's a lot of self congratulatory fluff, really.

Featurette - Fine Cookin'

     A slightly bizarre collection of clips of Adam Sandler talking about food while dressed as a fat man. Runs for 2:58.

Trailer

    No theatrical trailer for the film but rather some other titles, including - The Benchwarmers, Open Season, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and The Longest Yard. There is also a special preview of what to expect from the coming Blu-Ray Disc release.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 4 disc misses out on:

    The Region 1 US disc misses out on:

Summary

    Click is strange beast - sort of two films in one. There's plenty of opportunities for Adam Sandler to display his comedic talents and his propensity to play the boy in the man's body routine is still there, but it's lurking well below the surface and seldom breaks out (fart jokes excluded). But the story goes much deeper than a few toilet jokes and gives Sandler the chance to prove he is a real actor with plenty of range. The "don't wish your life" away aspect of the story is one that will resonate with all of us. The production values are superb, with some really neat and quite subtle special effects, plus an immersive soundtrack. Kate Beckinsale looks gorgeous, so who can complain?

    The DVD is superb with excellent video and audio.

    The extras are numerous, though to be honest could be wrapped up into one making-of featurette.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Darren Walters (It's . . . just the vibe . . . of my bio)
Friday, February 02, 2007
Review Equipment
DVDDenon DVD-3910, using RGB output
DisplayLoewe Calida (84cm). Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL).
AmplificationHarmon/Kardon AVR7000.
SpeakersFront - B&W 602S2, Centre - B&W CC6S2, Rear - B&W 601S2, Sub - Energy E:xl S10

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