Click (2006)

Recap of Click (2006)

The movie starts as we see the main protagonist, Michael Newman, who is an architect by profession. He lives with his family of four, which includes his wife, Donna, and two children, Ben and Samantha. Michael’s heavy-handed boss, John Ammer, makes him work more than necessary and, as a result, Michael often ends up ignoring his family.

Despite all this, Michael finds a lot of joy in the little time he gets to spend with his children, like when he watches Dragon Tales with them before leaving for work. One day at work, John offers Michael a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to design a luxury hotel for a Japanese conglomerate. He also promises Michael a promotion if he is able to seal the contract.

Michael is elated by the proposition but realizes that he has to go camping with his family. Later, he also misses Ben’s swimming race. When Michael reaches the school, he is greeted by Ben’s swimming teacher, Bill, with whom Ben seems to have a good friendship. He instantly becomes jealous, as he isn’t able to spend much time with his son. Hence, he makes fun of Bill’s red speedo.

As the family gathers at the Fourth of July fireworks, Michael spends all his time on the phone with his boss, which begins to annoy Michael’s mother, Trudy. She complains that Michael will die early if he continues to overwork and eat junk food. As Michael is occupied on the phone, his father, Ted, entertains the kids with his quarter trick.

Fascinated by the trick, Ben and Samantha ask their grandfather how he managed to bend the coin, but Ted responds that “a magician never reveals his secrets.” Ted further adds that even the “big boy,” Michael, hasn’t been able to decode his secret. Later at home, an argument erupts when Michael tells Donna to postpone the camping trip. He eventually calms her down and starts his project research by watching an Asian architecture documentary.

However, he hurts himself when he accidentally mistakes Ben’s helicopter remote for the TV remote. Tired of always mixing up the remotes, Michael heads out to the supermarket to buy a universal remote control. Michael enters the retail store Bed Bath & Beyond. He looks everywhere for the remote but doesn’t find it. A tired Michael then collapses on a bed. When he turns around, he spots a section of the store called “Beyond.”

When he gets inside to inspect, he is welcomed by a mysterious man named Morty. Michael begins to explain his situation to Morty, who then takes Michael to a large warehouse called “Way Beyond.” Morty then grabs a weird-looking remote and offers it to Michael for free. Morty tells Michael that the remote will program itself when he points and clicks the buttons.

A confused Michael inquires why he is being given the remote for free, to which Morty responds that “good guys need a break every once in a while.” As Michael prepares to leave, he is also told that the item is “non-refundable.” After Michael reaches home, he continues watching the documentary and begins working on the project design.

However, he is soon disturbed by his dog, Sundance. The poor dog wants a break outside, so he continues to bark. A furious Michael then points the remote at Sundance and presses the volume-down button repeatedly, while shouting at the dog to remain silent for five minutes. Astonishingly, the dog becomes mute, but Michael dismisses it, as he thinks it’s just a hallucination.

After Michael takes Sundance out, he starts getting frustrated again as the dog takes a really long time to find a spot to relieve himself. So he points the remote at the dog again while pressing fast-forward. Just like the last time, the trick works, as the remote fast-tracks Sundance, who quickly finishes his business and gets back inside.

Michael is astonished and finally believes in the power of the universal remote. He finds out that the remote can be used to control real life. The following day, Michael uses the remote to look into his past life. He gets emotional when he sees his younger self playing football with his friends at Lake Winnipesaukee. Meanwhile, Morty gives Michael his phone number in case he has any questions about the remote.

Michael uses the remote to fast-forward through family dinner, arguments, and even intercourse. After fast-forwarding the intercourse, Michael is surprised to learn that he “climaxed” very quickly and couldn’t pleasure Donna like he normally used to. He also learns that he doesn’t remember the conversations he had or the commitments he made during dinner.

Michael calls Morty and demands an explanation. Morty says that during fast-forward, Michael’s body is on “auto-pilot.” This means that he is going through the motions of everyday life, but his mind skips ahead. In this way, while Michael seems to live a normal life, he doesn’t remember any of it. After this revelation, Michael uses the remote to fast-forward through undesirable things like sickness, cold showers, and traffic.

He also presents the design he made on auto-pilot mode to the Japanese businessman, Mr. Watsuhita. The meeting seems to be going great, but Michael’s overexcited boss, John, unintentionally mocks Japan’s iconic baseball players, mistaking their names for Asian dishes. This prompts Mr. Watsuhita to excuse himself and have a private conversation with his team.

A nervous Michael tries to overhear Watsuhita’s conversation but can’t understand any of it. So, he uses the remote to translate their conversation into English and turn up the volume. The trick works, and it reveals that the Japanese team disliked Michael’s design, commenting that it must have been made after watching a bad documentary on Asian architecture.

They wanted more rooms to maximize their profits, not a stupid river in the lobby. Mr. Watsuhita then orders his team to end the meeting so that they can have Jell-O shots at America’s greatest cultural achievement: TGI Friday’s. However, when Mr. Watsuhita approaches Michael to wrap up, Michael uses the overheard conversation to win over the businessman.

He rips up his failed design and offers to make a new one that incorporates more rooms to maximize profits. A delighted Mr. Watsuhita finally grants the contract to Michael’s company. Later at home, a super-elated Michael buys gifts for his wife and children. When Donna inquires about the reason for Michael’s joy, he reveals that John has promoted him to a partnership. Donna jumps in excitement.

However, the excitement turns into disappointment the next day when Michael learns that he hasn’t actually been promoted. As a matter of fact, he won’t be promoted until he prepares the construction plan for the hotel and gets Mr. Watsuhita’s commitment, which will take several months. Devastated by the news, Michael uses the remote to pause John and fart in his mouth.

In the next scene, Michael plans on using the remote to fast-forward to the time he finishes the Watsuhita project. When he seeks Morty’s advice, Morty reminds Michael about the leprechaun from a cereal advertisement. The leprechaun always chases a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but when he finally gets there, he realizes it is just cornflakes. Michael doesn’t understand the metaphor but nevertheless suspends his plans to use the remote.

At home, Michael is still frustrated over his promotion and takes it out on his children. The kids start crying when Michael makes fun of their pizza and pickles. He then has an argument with Donna. Later, Michael realizes his mistake. Annoyed by his actions, he finally decides to use the remote to skip ahead to his promotion and finds himself at his promotion party. He finds out that it took John a whole year to promote him.

During this time, Donna and Michael’s relationship became strained, and they entered marriage counseling. Ben and Samantha have matured and no longer watch the Dragon Tales cartoon. He also learns that Sundance has passed away. Michael breaks down and regrets not letting his late dog hump his leg. This confuses Donna, but she consoles him anyway.

Michael promises Donna that he will change and become a better man for her. He asks her not to leave him. Michael and Donna make out, but the remote automatically fast-forwards to the end of the intercourse. Michael again finds an unsatisfied Donna lying next to him on the bed. He is puzzled by the remote automatically skipping time without him pressing any buttons.

He then contacts Morty, who reveals that the remote is now using its memory to execute Michael’s preferences. That’s Google way ahead of its time! Michael has fast-forwarded through an entire year, and that accounted for a lot of skipped intercourse. Now, each time he tries having intercourse or engages in events like showering, driving through traffic, arguing, and being sick, the remote is going to fast-forward on its own.

Hearing this, Michael regrets ever having used the remote and returns it to Morty, but it automatically reappears in his hand. He then makes several attempts to discard and destroy the remote, but it reappears each time. The next day, Michael goes to the office on a bicycle without showering so that he can avoid time is automatically fast-forwarded. There, John tells him about his plans to retire and travel to Morocco.

John’s retirement would make Michael the new head of the International Division at the firm. While Michael is stunned by his promotion to such a high post, John exclaims that every account Michael has worked on has turned into gold. John also comments that he wouldn’t be surprised if one day Michael ended up being the company’s CEO.

Suddenly, Michael is fast-forwarded ten years into the future, where he is wealthy but morbidly obese. He quickly returns home to find that Ben and Samantha are grown-up teenagers. Ben, has also become obese, much like himself, while Samantha has started dating someone. He also learns that Donna has divorced him and is dating Ben’s swimming teacher, Bill.

Enraged by their relationship, Michael attacks Bill. An argument ensues, and the family dog jumps on Michael, causing him to knock his head on the wall and fall unconscious. After six long years, Michael finally regains consciousness. Donna is there by his side and reveals that after he went into a coma, a CAT scan found cancer in his body, so he had to undergo treatment for years. After beating cancer, he also suffered a heart attack.

However, Michael is no longer fat as a result of having undergone liposuction to save his life. Later at the firm, Michael meets an adult Ben, who has surprisingly lost a lot of weight by working out with Donna’s husband, Bill. Michael offers to take Ben, Samantha, and their grandparents out for ice cream, but Ben reveals that Grandpa Ted has already died.

This devastates Michael, who breaks into tears and visits Ted’s grave. Michael then uses the remote to re-experience the time when he last saw his dad. Michael sees that Ted dropped by his office and offered to take Ben and him out for dinner. But an autopilot, Michael rejected the offer without even looking at the old man.

Ted continued to insist and offered to show Michael his favorite childhood quarter trick, but an agitated Michael yelled at his father while revealing that he had always known the secret to the trick. The poor old man then apologized and left with tears in his eyes. Michael is filled with shame and guilt. Morty then appears and apologizes for taking his father away, admitting that he is the Angel of Death.

Michael becomes angry at the revelation and attacks Morty. However, Morty disappears into thin air and reappears behind him. Frightened, Michael asks the remote to take him to a “good place,” whereupon the remote fast-forwards him several more years into the future, to Ben’s wedding. At the wedding, Michael is elated to see his mother and gives her a long kiss. He also meets a fully grown Samantha.

Michael hears her calling Bill “dad” and suffers a heart attack, unable to bear the pain of being replaced even as a father. He wakes up in the hospital that night with Ben and Samantha by his side. Before Ben and Samantha are escorted out by the nurse, Michael finds out that Ben is skipping his honeymoon because of a business deal. Fearing that Ben might make the same mistakes he made, Michael gathers the last of his strength to follow them out of the hospital.

However, his body gives out, and he collapses onto the ground with his family around him. In a very low voice, he advises Ben to always put family first and apologizes to Samantha for not being there for her. Michael then tells Donna that he will always love her and passes away. Suddenly, Michael reawakens in Bed Bath & Beyond. He is elated to learn that everything was just a dream. Outside, he is overjoyed to see his “crappy, mediocre, middle-class” car.

After he reaches home, he embraces his family and promises to spend more time with them. Just then, he finds the remote on the counter along with a note from Morty, which says that he has been given a second chance, as “good guys need a break.” Morty also hopes that Michael will do the right thing this time. The movie ends as Michael throws the remote in the trash and is delighted when, this time, it does not reappear.

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Recap of Click (2006)