Written by Luke Barnes
Summary
All round terrible person, husband and father Michael Newman, played by Adam Sandler, is given a magical remote control that allows him to pause, skip and rewind reality; naturally he uses it to skip conversations with loved ones and just generally be a dick.
Films like this prove what so many people don’t like about Adam Sandler. He is obnoxious, rude and frankly just deeply unlikeable yet the film asks us to root for him, relate to him and to view his behaviour as normal. This is an almost impossible ask. The character is so deeply unlikeable that it makes the film hard to watch.
Moreover, this film features the ever so male fantasy esque role play of having a model looking wife paired off with some shlub, who treats her poorly. Not only are the two poorly suited for one another Sandler’s character is also deeply unpleasant to her throughout, even when supposedly reformed. His wife is played by Kate Beckinsale here, in a film I bet she deeply regrets doing. To summarise how this film uses Kate Beckinsale there is a scene where Michael has paused time and discusses with Christopher Walken’s character what a ‘rocking bod’ she has. Yes, that’s right. Yikes.
The sexism and racism and many other isms are all on full display here, Sandler faithful Rob Schneider is in brown face playing a foreign prince which honestly he should be made to apologise for because it is both deeply unfunny as well as widely offensive.
By the end of the film where it tries to hit you with its grand moral philosophy on life and love and in doing so tries to redeem Sandler’s character it fails miserably as by that point you hate Sandler’s character and want to see him lose.
Overall, I’m glad that Sandler seems to have learnt in recent years that him just being a dick to everyone around him doesn’t make for a good comedy film.
Pros.
Walken has a few funny lines
The premise has promise
Cons.
Sandler
Beckinsale is treated as a piece of meat throughout
It is deeply sexist and racist
Pacing issues
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Another Millennial Reviewer 