CLICK

It seemed nearly million years since I saw a movie at a cinema hall. It is ironic that I managed one recently, only during a brief "enforced leisure" break where the choice of the film was decided by whatever was available in the time slot. Given that, am quite glad that I fairly enjoyed the film.

While the group was neatly divided among those who couldn't stand the film and ones who adored it, it was damn intriguing how different people with fairly similar backgrounds and functioning out of a similar environment react in such sharply different manner to similar stuff .One set found it unbearably flippant while the other swore they saw the strongest possible message.

Coming to the film that we watched, "Click", I think beneath and within the comedy there was a message (yes I do belong to the latter set :) ) particularly significant, given our present lifestyles. While we are caught up in the blind race for success, we overlook and forget all that was originally important to us, we start looking at that job of ours which was just a "means" as the "end all" of everything. We abuse our bodies with the most junky food and keep imagining that all the "struggle" we are going through will lead up to that perfect life that we want. Except that in life unlike economics books, "all things are [never] constant". While it sounds morosely preachy when I put it in the above words, that is where the film works so well. For it so effortlessly conveys the mad rush of life where there is no time to pause and ponder.

The other thing I enjoyed about the film was its use of fantasy. One often likes to imagine how good life will be if things happened EXACTLY as we wanted, if we could fast-forward all the unpleasant things such as sickness, traffic, arguments etc. The film shows the horror of such a perfect life and what a blessed thing ordinary life is. It takes literally the metaphor of a remote-control and shows how the protagonist Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) finds himself empowered with the choice to "control" the events in his life. So while he can pause, fast-forward or rewind his life as he wants and avoid the tedious fights or sex with his wife, life becomes hell when the remote auto programmes itself based on his behaviour pattern. If he has been fast forwarding taking shower or sex then it automatically goes on that mode, now without his wishing it so. The film of course drafts a drastic scenario where his wife divorces him for another man, his son like him thriving on junk becomes grossly overweight, he himself given his food habits has a stroke and then diagnosed with cancer and while his dream of being the most successful architect comes true, it comes with a heavy price. As a culmination of a life of decadence, he is shown dying having learnt his lessons, albeit a little too late.

Almost in a bollywood style farce at the end , Michael gets a second chance to make amends - to his wife, children and life and play the "family comes first" ideal man which is a little cheezy. What is nice though is that it gives a similar sense of comfort to the audience, that they needn't take their lives to such drastic end, that they can learn their lessons and start being sensitive to their environment.

I don't know about the originality quotient of the film (heard its copied from "It's a Wonderful Life") yet in its own right, its interesting as an urban satire. While technology gives us the false sense of "control", it lulls our need to use our own judgement and can easily make us a prisoner of the predictable patterns of our own creation. Also it reaffirms faith in the cycle of good and bad and shows how utterly horrible it would be if eveything was "perfect" because THAT is very elusive.

In my personal scheme of things, the movie was a good comic reprieve from all assignments . As Morty, the angel says in the film:

..."because sometimes nice guys need a break" ;)