How often does one see himself in a movie! Well, you don't get that often right! Recently, I watched the movie 'Click' with my beloved half. Expecting more or less the same comedic stuff from the ever so funny Adam Sandler, I was at first reluctant to go. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Adam Sandler, it's just that the movie garnered not so good ratings from the local papers and nowadays I tend to selectively go for movies that have better reviews as I do not have as much free time as I do in the past. Never did I expected that the movie to be so heart-warming and full of subtle messages that I gained different perspectives in life after watching it.
The movie talked about the main character "Adam" who was so caught up in the rat race for success that he neglected the most important things in his life, his family in the process. In the movie, Adam was an architect who was busy building up his career and coping with the demands of his family, consisting of his beautiful wife and two kids and his parents too. One day, fed up with his progress at work and also with the demands of his family, he took a drive round town and came across a weirdo who gave him a "universal remote controller" to solve his problems. Thinking it to be a normal remote controller, he accepted it willingly although under the condition of no return policy.
Hilarious scenes soon followed when he discovered how to fully utilise the power of this special "universal remote controller" However in his haste to get the success that he so craved, he choose to press the "fast forward" button to get to the end results, foregoing a lot of memories and events in the process. Unknowingly to Adam, as the "universal remote controller" has the unique ability to record his preferences over his "fast forward" choices, soon most of the time his life was on "autopilot" and his life was fast forwarded into the future.
Due to him missing out on a lot of events and the chance to spend quality time with his family, he found himself divorced from his wife and alienated from his children and parents. At this point, he desperately wanted to salvage the situation but was prevented when he was once again propelled into the future. Things go from bad to worse, in the end, when he laid dying at the roadside with his family around him, he realised the full folly of using shortcut (the (universal remote controller")to attain success in life, neglecting his family in the process and he reminded his son not to follow in his footsteps.
At that moment when Adam passed away, he found himself back at the store where he first got the "universal remote controller". He realised that it was a bad dream after all. Glad with this discovery, he made his way back to his parents' house where he declared his love to his parents. After that, he went back to his house and woke everyone up and told them how much he loved them and he was going to keep his words and bring them for a camping trip the next day. Well, that's how a good family show should end, warm and fuzzy.
To me, the whole roadside scene was the highlight of the show and my wife confessed to me that it very nearly made her cry. It also made me realised the importance of my family and made me determined that in my chase for success, I must not neglect my family in the process. I'm very impressed at how this movie had actually turned out to be, not your usual full of laughs movie but one full of meaningful messages, one that is for self-reflection.
In life, there are always certain regrets, just make sure that your family is not one of them.