Movie Marketing Madness: Click

Let me state right off the bat that I think Adam Sandler just might be a minion of the devil. I’m not saying he is the devil (that’s Rob Schnieder) but he’s definitely working in some way shape or form for the dark side. There was one brief moment when I thought he was going to turn his career around from playing retarded man-children – that being Punch-Drunk Love – but then he went right back at it and dashed my hopes against the wall. I didn’t even think Spanglish was that good. It was kind of a mixed bag of emotions and plot that wound up being just a mess.

His latest is Click. Sandler plays a workaholic husband and father who happens to wind obtaining what he thinks is just a simple universal remote control. In actuality what he gets is a remote control that affects the real world. He can fast forward his life, pause it and rewind, kind of like with a DVR remote. Neat concept that is sure to be dumbed-down for the Sandler crowd.

The Poster

Sandler’s huge mug alongside said remote control. It’s got buttons that say things like “Play: Golf” and “Mute: Mother in Law.” Clever. Stereotypical things that a man is supposed to enjoy on the remote. Funny, in a not so much sort of way.

There were also some more posters with a bikini-clad woman and a button that said “slo mo” or something and one with a thong-clad heavyset guy that with a button over his hinder that said “delete” or something. Honestly I was so disgusted I didn’t pay that much attention. It’s pretty bad.

The Trailer

Pretty much what you’d expect. Sandler seems like a disappointment to everyone, including his wife and kids, until he gets the remote. Christopher Walken is the weird shop owner that sells it to him and, as usual, steals the scenes he has. Sandler uses the remote to exact revenge on some of the people in his life like his boss, a kid that’s bothering his son and others. He also uses it to slow down a busty woman jogging past him and fast forward through a fight with his wife. Everything seems to be hunky-dory until the remote stops working and he fast forwards many years to find his young daughter is all of a sudden a teenager.

Everything about the trailer shows that, while he’s getting older, Sandler is still playing to the repressed inner child that Hollywood thinks lives in all men. Yes, all we want to do is watch boobies and avoid our responsibilities. How insulting can you possibly be?

Online

Think there’s anything worth noting on the official website? Take a minute and think about whether there’s anything new in the movie. There is something called a “Premiere Podcast” but it’s not available via RSS feed and there’s just the one so it’s not so much a podcast but a regular online piece of video. Don’t misuse this term or I will call you on it.

Sony also launched a site where you could upload your own photo onto the poster in place of Sandler’s face. Not bad but I didn’t see it get much coverage, which may mean that efforts like this might have run their course in terms of innovation.

Overall

Very lame effort for this one. Sandler is rapidly aging and the window he has for playing this sort of character is closing fast. He needs to decide how he’s going to extend his career beyond playing borderline idiots and grow up. If not he’s going to find parts become fewer and farther between quickly. The poster relies on the audience finding the idea of cliched behavior funny and the trailer is built for those people who “grew up” with Sandler in roles like Happy Gilmore and still want to see him do that even though they, and he, are older now. Pass.

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By Chris Thilk

Chris Thilk is a freelance writer and content strategist with over 15 years of experience in online strategy and content marketing. He lives in the Chicago suburbs.

1 comment

  1. Great take. I just posted today to get it out of my system after seeing it over the holiday. Adam BRANDler had WAY too many product mentions in this one, not to mention, the trailer made it seem like a slapstick Happy Gilmore movie, but the damn thing turned out to be this kind of melodramatic, small dick, parents having sex mess.

    Anyway, I thought Clerks II Myspace promo and Snakes on a Blog showed how to take advantage of new media better.

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