A review

Normally when I sit down to watch an Adam Sandler movie I expect to be entertained by mildly offensive humor and offended by mildly humerous entertainment. So I expected much of the same when I sat down with my wife to watch "Click", his latest effort. I was suprised though. It wasn't really that funny. There were to be sure a few funny parts fueled cheifly by Sandlers penchant for irrational exuberance. Yet strangly the oxymoron that is serious Adam Sandler turned out to be not that bad.

The movie is about an architect who is struggling with modern life. He is stretched thin by the demands on his time--primarily family and work. As many do he tends to see large parts of his life as obligatory sideshows of little interest--dinner with his parents, traffic, showering, even work. He is stretching for a promotion, and stretching his relationship with his family in the process.

Into this steps a man who offers him a universal remote of suprising power. He is now able to fast-forward through things, pause life, and go back to watch his memories. It is the first of these that he makes the most use of. He begins to fast-forward through life's little nusiances. But like a born alcoholic he quickly begins to move through bigger and bigger sections of life. An argument with his wife, an evening with boring dinner guests, a long night of work. Then in a fit of frustration at the failure to achieve a long hoped for promotion. He wakes up a year later; his body having moved through on autopilot while his mind skipped over. His marriage is falling apart, and he doesn't remember anything that has happened. He is understandable scared and resolves to use the remote less.

At this point the remote begins to take on a life of its own, fastforwarding through parts of his life automatically. The man who gave him the remote explains that the remote memorizes patterns and automatically anticipates his desires based on past actions. What follows is a miserable decline in which years go by at a time until he is an old dying man isolated from those around him by his years on autopilot.

So he gets what he always wanted, moving through the dull bits of life from high point to high point skipping the rest and dies a dispirited old man.

This movie is fascinating as a commentary on a certain part of modern life. Many of us tend to focus on making it through. If I can make it through to Christmas break then everything will get better. If I can get just get into medical school then life will be better. When I make it through medical school then I will have arrived. Like the never ending song we are always approaching the end in life, but never arriving. As human being we have been endowed with a sense of purpose. I am here for a reason. We assume that this nagging sense of purpose plagues us because we are meant to accomplish something. We carry an unresolved contradiction;we want to accomplish, yet are rarely satisfied by accomplishment. And so we push forward always focusing our eyes on a goal, near or far. When it is met or deemed impossible we pick a new goal on which to fasten our hopes.

The point of the movies is that our purpose is met, not in the end, but in the means. When we lose sight of this as our young hero did, we end up unsatisfied as our old hero did. There is a valuable lesson here for many in our society, but as Christians we can do better. We do have a purpose.

What is the cheif end of man?
To glorify God and enjoy him forever.

We have a sense of purpose because we have a purpose. We were created by God to glorify and enjoy him. And we tend to be unsatisfied because we latch onto the wrong goals. As Paul said--press on towards the goal as a runner in a race. This movie reminds me that I am to continually keep this in mind--not because it says so, but because of the twisted way inwhich my mind works.

Note: I include this last bit, not because its not obvious, I know it is. But because I personally am prone to forget it.

Note: The movie left several possibilities unexplored. I personally couldn't imagine using the fast-forward button, but boy would I be tempted by the pause button. Think of what I could get done if the world was on pause for a few hours. It would be great. I couls have a 26 hour day. Also I would have used the review function a bit more. I am fond of memories.