Click is a 2006 American comedy-drama film directed by Frank Coraci and starring Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken and David Hasselhoff. It was released in North America on June 23, 2006 by Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios.

The film follows Michael Newman (Sandler), a married architect with two children. Michael loves his family, but is easily pushed around by his overbearing boss Mr. Ammer (Hasselhoff) and has little time for them. One night, after Michael loses his temper at the amount of remote controls in the house, he goes in search of a universal remote control for his appliances. At a Bed Bath & Beyond, Michael collapses onto a bed and falls asleep, before waking up and proceeding to the section marked "Beyond."

There, he meets the mysterious Morty (Walken), who happens to be an eccentric inventor. Morty takes him to a room marked "Way Beyond" and gives him a universal remote control and warns that it can never be returned. To Michael's amazement, he finds out that the remote literally controls the universe, in particular allowing him to control time. The story follows Michael's experiments with the device, as well as the consequences and lessons resulting.

Not to be confused with the Tales to Give You Goosebumps short story of the same name (or the TV episode based on it). They both use the same concept of a Universal Remote Control, albeit executed in a different fashion.

Click contains examples of:

• 20 Minutes into the Future: Thanks to the constant time skips caused by the remote "learning" to skip to promotions and other work-related successes, we see glimpses of a future where Everything Is An iPod. Of course, it's a bit confusing as to when they take place; the first time skip of any substantial amount is shown to have transported Michael to the year 2017, but the other time skips are to 2023 and 2029.
• Abusive Parents: Micheal blames Kevin for the cigar he's smoking when his mother asks. She gets incredibly upset and pulls him by the hair for no reason. Do note, all Kevin did in this scene was brag about his family's new camper.
• Accidental Misnaming: Prince Habeeboo gets on the receiving end of this from both Michael and Ammer, who both fail to pronounce his name properly during their meeting with him.
• Actor Allusion: Christopher Walken plays an undercover (arch)angel. Walken has said that when he read the script, he decided that Morty and Gabriel were actually the same person, and played Morty accordingly. If you watch the two movies back-to-back, it's impossible to miss: "It's time to come home.".
• Advertised Extra: The Buxom Jogger is in almost every trailer and TV spot but isn't in the film for more than 8 seconds.
• All Just a Dream: Or was it?! It wasn't. Everything happened, but Morty gave Michael a second chance.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Michael's parents constantly joke about his supposedly small penis.
• Arab Oil Sheikh: Prince Habeeboo, an Arabian noble seen striking a deal with Mr. Ammer.
• Artifact of Doom: The remote. While it starts off as a nifty little device that makes Michael's life easier, it becomes his bane later on when he uses it to skip/fast-forward his way through bickerings, family gatherings, sick days, showers, traffic jams, sex, and eventually an entire year to his promotion — at this point, the remote saves Michael's habits and takes over from there, locking him in auto-pilot against his will and skipping him through the rest of his lifetime until his death and the eventual second chance Morty gives him.
• Ass Shove: After Michael realizes that fast-forwarding through his life isn't so great after all, he tries several times to throw the remote away only for it to keep reappearing in different places on his body, on his other hand or on top of his head, for example. When Michael decides to get naked in order for it to stop, Morty warns him there'll be only one place left for him to pull the remote out of, which convinces Michael to stop.
• Bad Future: Unsurprisingly, the cause of the main character's Heel Realization.
• Big Eater:
  • Ben, both at the age of 7 and 18.
  • Michael, both before and during the time skip. It has a terrible effect for both of them; Michael suffers a heart attack and Ben becomes morbidly obese.
• Bigger on the Inside: The back of the "Bed Bath & Beyond" store is larger than it appears on the outside.
• Bilingual Bonus: Played straight and parodied with Michael playing with the language feature. The first time is during the sensitivity training when Michael switches to the Spanish setting to amuse himself. The second time is during a meeting with a Japanese corporation where Michael uses the setting to find out what they're really saying about his model design.
• Bratty Half-Pint: The neighbor's kid constantly goes out of his way to make Michael feel like a failure.
• Brick Joke: Early on in the movie, Michael's daughter Samantha asks him how long he's going to live and Michael says a throwaway line "I'll live for 200 years, is that long enough for you?". Near the end of the film, as he lies dying in the rain, he says to Samantha, "I didn't quite make it to 200 but I still love you."
• Body Horror:
  • Due to lack of exercise (and his junk food binge-eating while working, which is all the time), one "fast-forward" of ten years takes Michael from Adam Sandler-sized to Morbidly Obese. Even worse when he goes into a coma for 6 years and loses ONLY the fat.
  • Michael gets one of these, of a sort, when he sees how fat Ben has become by 2017.
• But Not Too White: Michael invokes this trope on himself by using the remote's color settings to make himself look like he got a light tan.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Michael uses the slow motion controller powers in order to ogle a buxom jogger as she runs past him.
• Call-Back: To Billy Madison — this film also features a Jerkass Ginger kid by the name of O'Doyle.
• Cerebus Call-Back: Michael reacts the same way both times when he learned that Sundance, the family dog, and, later on, his father had passed away sometime during his fast forwarding. Unlike the former, where his grief is largely Played for Laughs, the latter is depicted entirely seriously with Michael teetering on the edge of a complete emotional breakdown at the revelation.
• Cerebus Syndrome: The movie starts off as a wacky comedy about a man who can pause and fast forward Michael's life with a magical remote control. It eventually shifts from him making a hot blonde jogging go in slow motion to him fast forwarding through his life, becoming more and more of a jerkass, alienating his entire family, and influencing his son to become like him. It's also revealed that Morty, who gave him the remote, is actually the angel of death. Michael reaches his end when he suffers a major heart attack when his daughter calls his ex-wife's husband dad. He finally dies shortly afterwards after running into the parking lot of the hospital that he's at, after disconnecting himself from life-support, to beg his son to not become like him. Luckily for him, Morty gave Michael a second chance.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: After bickering with Donna over Ammer not making him his associate and instead forcing him to work on another project for Watsuhita, Michael smokes the cigar he bought earlier on to celebrate his (failed) promotion to de-stress himself.
• Clingy MacGuffin: Eventually the remote keeps popping up despite Michael's attempts to get rid of it.
• Covers Always Lie: The film's poster and home media cover features a delete button on the remote, a feature that is not depicted at any point in the film. The poster also implies things Michael does with the remote such as traveling back to prom night, silencing his mother-in-law, and skipping a hangover, among other things, which he does not do during the film.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Christopher Walken's portrayal of Morty, the Angel of Death, certainly comes off as dark and a bit twisted at times, but ultimately he's rather kindly towards Michael, particularly following the climax when, instead of taking Michael to the afterlife, Morty gives him a second chance to turn his life around, rewinding time back to when he was in Bed, Bath and Beyond. He calmly explains that nothing bad happens to Michael because of him, but because Michael misused the remote.
• Despair Event Horizon: After all the misery Michael suffered because of the remote skipping him throughout his life against his will, he ends up reaching it at Ben's wedding in 2023 when he hears Samantha calling Bill "dad", which causes Michael to collapse from a heart attack in despair.
• Diabolus ex Machina: The remote learns Michael's habits and begins skipping time-based on what he's previously skipped even when he doesn't tell it to, in order to make sure he fully understands what he's missing and make sure the lesson is driven home fully.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Michael dies in the arms of his son. However, it turns out to be a dream of sorts.
• Digital Head Swap: During the segment in which Michael was enormously fat.
• Dirty Old Man: A tiny little bit with Morty noticing just how hot Donna is. (Though as he's an angel, he might be The Ageless or something.)
• Disappeared Dad: Michael, the "emotionally and mentally absent" variation.
• Disproportionate Retribution: After neighborhood kid O'Doyle constantly makes fun of him, Michael decides to get back at him by not only telling O'Doyle's mother that O'Doyle had given him the cigar he was smoking, but that he thinks there's marijuana inside of it. O'Doyle may have been a jerk, but he didn't really deserve a punishment for something he didn't do involving drugs.
• Don't Fear the Reaper: "Morty", a peculiar Bed, Bath & Beyond store clerk, is secretly the Angel of Death. He is nice enough to the protagonist, and after dying from misusing the remote, Morty gives him a second chance at life, to be able to truly appreciate his family.
• Dying Declaration of Hate: The protagonist does this momentarily but changes his mind. While dying, he makes amends with his family and flips off his ex-wife's husband but he then gestures that he was just kidding and gives him a thumbs up.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Inverted; Michael chooses to be unhappy from the start, as his over-dedication to his work ends up ruining this life, and Morty points out that it would happen with or without the remote. By learning his lesson, he is finally able to enjoy the little things of life and be happy with his family.
• Family Versus Career: Michael wants a better life for his family and tries hard to get a promotion. But due to abusing the power of the magic remote, he set himself on "auto-pilot" which seemingly made him obsessed with career, estranging him from his family.
• Fanservice: Kate Beckinsale wearing tiny shorts or wearing a Pocahontas costume.
• Fanservice Extra: Michael fast forwards his trip to the office, but on the way he sees a random hot jogger (played by Ireesha) and sets time to slow motion to stare at her big breasts bouncing up and down.
• Fast-Forward Gag: Played for Drama. The remote that Michael receives allows him to fast-forward through parts of his life, but this has the consequence of not only causing him to miss important events, but those around him taking The Slow Path perceive him as being brusque and distant, which causes his relationships with his family to deteriorate.
• Fat Bastard:
  • At the age of 7 it's implied that Ben is going to become one of these; he's a glutton who eats ice-creams and tries to steal Twinkies. He later eats just as unhealthily as his father before the time skipping happens. It's only regular exercise with his step-father that gets him back into shape by his twenties.
  • Both Michael — who's had an unhealthy lifestyle for ten years along with no exercise — and Ben — who got fat due to copying his father's eating habits as a kid (stated above) and not exercising with his increasingly lazy and later absent father — become this after the time skip. Ben later calls his father on it. It's later subverted when, after being given a second chance, Michael promises to exercise everyday with Ben and "not wear a speedo".
• First Law of Tragicomedies: The film fits this trope to a T. It starts out with Michael using a magical remote to see a jogger's boobs jiggle in slow-mo, and begins a little more dramatic when he accidentally jumps one year ahead, but still had plenty of comedy. When he jumps ahead, he's there corporeally, but not mentally, he's basically zoned out, on "auto-pilot", so his social life falls apart, but for some reason, he's a great architect. Then he jumps ten years into the future, where his wife left him, and he's severely overweight. It just goes straight into drama, leaving comedy in the dust when he jumps past his father's death, and then comes into his own. But then say hello to comedy after the climax. It was All Just a Dream, or it was time rewinded, take your pick.
• Flanderization: Deliberately invoked. Michael does have a problem with throwing himself into his work and isn't the nicest guy, but does clearly love his family and his Fatal Flaw is a lot of the misguided decisions he makes are out of his love for them. As Morty explains, Michael whenever he's on "auto-pilot" only exhibits the first set of traits, which are the more common ones he displays. It plays a major part in Michael coming to terms with his flaws.
• Future Me Scares Me: Michael is infuriated to see what a jerkass he's become in the future. He's initially loudly pissed off at his apathy towards his son, but the final straw seems to be when Autopilot!Michael yells at his dad (an event that took place shortly before his death). After seeing that, Michael quickly descends into Tranquil Fury and calls himself "pathetic."
• Genre Shift: The movie takes a pretty dramatic turn midway through from a typical Adam Sandler comedy to an emotional family drama. This shift is part of the reason Click is still so well known among Sandler's filmography.
• Gray Rain of Depression: Michael has turned his life miserable (divorce, missing the growth of his children) with his almighty time remote control. An elder and sicker Michael tries to reach his family, he collapses to the ground and sees them one more time to say goodbye (and flip the finger to the pool monitor that re-married Michael's wife) as rain falls.
• Groin Attack: In 2017, Michael pauses time to kick Donna's new husband Bill in the balls—several times. When he plays time again, Bill doubles over in pain but wouldn't know why.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: The remote allows for this to be possible.
• Heel Realization: Michael is somewhat of a dick at the start. He sees how much worse it gets through the remote, discovering that while on "auto-pilot" without making any changes to himself, he becomes a world-class asshole who yells at his dad for "barging in," much to his horror and regret.
• I Can Still Fight!: Happens to the main character so he can tell his son that "family comes first" and make up for never being at home thanks to the fast-forward on the remote. He dies, but It was All Just a Dream.
• Intangible Time Travel: The rewind button on the main character's remote allows him to intangibly review earlier parts of his life.
• Intergenerational Rivalry: Micheal has one with the neighbor kid Kevin O'Doyle. Unusually for this trope, Micheal tends to get one up on the kid even without the remote. It also mostly consists of Micheal breaking Kevin's things or hurting him for Kevin being annoying. Remember we're supposed to like Micheal.
• I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: Seeing himself during his first date, Michael calls himself "Wolverine's goofy cousin."
• The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: Though the remote was bought in Bed, Bath and Beyond. It was found in a mysterious "Beyond" section that Michael is implied not to have seen before.
• Lonely at the Top: All Michael wanted was to get a promotion so he could provide better income for his family. Due to the Universal Remote being stuck on auto-pilot and fast-forwarding him through his lifetime, he eventually succeeds in becoming head of his company but is divorced from his wife, isn't really "there" as his kids grow up (with the threat of his son turning out just like him) and wasn't there for the death of his father, which his auto-pilot self coldly brushed off in their last meeting. Luckily though, he's given another chance to live his life without the use of the remote to focus more on his family than his work.
• Lost the TV Remote: Michael is just trying to find the TV remote, but accidentally ends up using a remote for his kids' toys and a remote that controls the garage door. He decides that he's just going to go buy a universal remote so that it won't take forever trying to find the one that they need. And so it all begins...
• Lousy Lovers Are Losers: Michael is already implied not to be very good in bed (Donna frequently requests massages before sex and he seems very annoyed at the idea of doing something extra to please his wife) but once he messes with the Universal Remote Control and accidentally "fast forward" their sex, it ends up being a very quick, mechanical and unsatisfying experience for Donna. This is the first clue about how Michael is Not Himself when he skips time.
• Married to the Job: The path Michael has set for himself. It has dire consequences for Michael's life and even to his family. He becomes a jerkass that fails to make even the smallest change to his attitude over the years and his behavior influences his son to take the same path, horrifying him.
• May It Never Happen Again: After Michael experiences what the future might be if he focuses more on his job using the universal remote, he goes home and decides to spend time with his family instead. He receives a card from Morty along with the universal remote shortly after, whereupon Michael throws the remote in the trash so he can never use it again.
• Meaningful Echo:
  • "Will you still love me in the morning? Forever and ever, babe." Donna and Michael had this exchange before their first kiss and later he pulled out the very same napkin the words were written on and they said them as Michael lay dying.
  • When Michael considers fast-forwarding to his promotion, Morty tries to talk him out of it using a cereal ad about a leprechaun chasing gold at the end of the rainbow ("It's just corn flakes") as a metaphor. When Michael has fast-forwarded multiple years of his life and has a heart attack at his son's wedding, he sees Morty dancing in the background and he repeats the phrase, heavily implying that this was effectively the end of the road.
  • Morty decides to just give the universal remote to Michael for free, simply saying "Good guys need a break" as a justification. At the very end of the movie, after bringing him back to the point before he got the remote, the message Morty leaves for Michael starts off with "Like I said. Good guys need a break".
• Meaningful Name:
  • Morty is the Angel of Death.
  • You know who else is named for an angel? Michael.
  • Michael's last name is New-Man.
• Misapplied Phlebotinum: One of the biggest problems of the main character is that his job takes too much time, leaving him too little to spend with his family. His magic remote has a Pause button he can use to freeze time, during which he can manipulate objects and people. He could have solved his biggest problem by doing his overtime work outside time entirely, but doesn't try that on screen. That doesn't even get into the remote's unexpected behavior.
• Missing Time: Happens when Michael uses his magic remote to "fast forward" himself past things he doesn't like. He gets put on autopilot while he does so.
• Mood Whiplash: The first half of the film is basically your typically raunchy Adam Sandler comedy. The second half, however, is an absolutely heartbreaking drama rife with sad moments and existential fears.
• Mythology Gag: This isn't the first time a Sandler character has made reference to Barney & Friends.
• Never My Fault: After Michael skips one too many times into the future and realizes he's missed so many important things with his estranged family, he blames Morty for his faults. Morty calls him out on it.
  Michael: (looks at the unfinished treehouse) Ten years and you're still not finished? (screaming to the sky) Morty! Why would you do this to me?!
  Morty: You did this to yourself, Michael!
  Michael: No! that's not true! I didn't want to lose all that time! I didn't want to lose Donna!
  Morty: The remote goes by your behavior. Every time you had a fight between work and family, work won. Lie to me, lie to yourself, but you can't lie to the remote.
• Never Trust a Trailer: Previews focused almost entirely on the more lighthearted first half while only giving subtle passing mentions at best of the significantly more depressing second half.
• Nice Guy: Bill who is a genuinely decent guy, infinitely nicer than Michael, but who becomes the butt of his jokes.
• No More for Me: When Michael gets fed up with Sundance's barking while he's working on the project for Watsuhita, he uses the remote he got from Morty to lower the volume. Surprised the remote worked, Michael assumes he's hallucinating because of eating Yodels and drinking cough syrup. This is subverted after he goes back to Bed, Bath & Beyond to consult Morty on the remote's functions.
• Oblivious Mockery: When Ammer calls Michael out on arriving late for their meeting with Prince Habeeboo (played by Rob Schneider), Michael argues that "some moron in a red Lamborghini" parked on his spot, only for Prince Habeeboo to clarify he's the driver of said Lamborghini. Michael walks back on his remark and says it was a blue Ferrari.
• One-Word Title: The movie is simply named Click.
• Or Was It a Dream?: Michael falls onto a bed in Bed, Bath & Beyond, falling asleep for a couple of seconds, before going back to the loading dock and meeting Mort, who gives him the "Universal Remote." After fast-forwarding through (and missing) most of the important parts of his adult life, and finding his wife married to another man whom his daughter calls her 'second father', he dies of a heart attack, twenty-something years in the future. Later, he wakes up, back on the same bed in BB&B and makes his way home thinking it was all a dream. When he arrives home, he finds the same remote, with a note from Mort saying everyone deserves a second chance and that Mort knows he'll do the right thing, this time. Michael promptly throws it into the trash, where it finally stays.
• Pants-Pulling Prank: At Ben's wedding in 2023, Bill offers Michael a chance to dance with Donna for the last time. Michael agrees, but pauses time with the remote just to unbuckle and pull down Bill's pants, exposing his red speedos. Cue the other guests laughing at Bill after Michael unpauses.
• Paranormal Mundane Item: Michael Newman, a workaholic family man, acquires a magical universal remote that enables him to control reality.
• Parting-Words Regret: Michael goes back to the last time he saw his father. He gave him a disproportionately angry brush off.
• Pensieve Flashback: The movie features a Universal Remote Control which, among other features, allows Michael to rewind back to any point in his life. It's played for everything from comedy (when he checks out the "Making Of" bonus feature) to tear-jerker (replaying his last conversation with his father). It has a commentary track by the late James Earl Jones.
• Post–Wake-Up Realization: Michael Newman wakes up after a 10 year time skip caused by the remote. He gets out of bed oblivious to the fact that he's put on a lot of weight during those 10 years.
• Power Perversion Potential: Michael uses the remote's slow-motion function to stare at a female jogger's big breasts.
• Product Placement: Michael gets the remote at a Bed Bath & Beyond. Twinkies and Yodels also feature a disproportionate amount. In addition, his childrens' favorite TV show is Dragon Tales which they watch on a Trinitron television.
• Pull the I.V.: Deconstructed. Michael, hospitalized, seeing his son is about to repeat his same mistakes, pulls his IV and races out to catch his son in the parking lot. This leads directly to his death within five minutes.
• Relative Error: In the future, Michael notices a picture of his, now grown up, son with a pretty blonde girl and asks if she's his girlfriend. After an awkward Beat, an uncomfortable Ben breaks it to him that she's actually Samantha, aka, his own daughter.
• Rewind, Replay, Repeat: Michael realizes that abusing the "skip" function too many times has caused him to miss several key events in his life, including the death of his father. When he attempts to rewind back to that moment, Morty tells him it can't be done, because Michael wasn't there at the time. Grief-stricken, Michael can only rewind back to the last time he saw his father alive. Michael has become a great success at his job, but is now a heartless businessman. When his father shows up for a friendly visit, he attempts to bond with Michael one more time. Michael gives him a careless and brusque brush off. Michael-watching-the-rewind sees what In-the-Moment-Michael missed.
• Rock Bottom: When the remote skips ahead ten years, Michael wonders how much worse things can get... and discovers he's put on a lot of weight.
• Running Gag: All the dogs Michael's family get shown having their way with a plush duck.
• Screw Yourself: A radio announcement in the future mentions that Michael Jackson, the first man to clone himself is suing himself for molesting himself.
• Secret Test of Character: Implied at the end: after being given a second chance, Michael discovers that Morty gave him back the remote as well. He promptly decides to throw it into a trash can; once Michael notes it didn't return to him, he walks out of the room.
• Sensitivity Training: Michael has to sit through one and uses the remote to entertain himself while he sits through it.
• Setting Update: Click is "The Magic Thread", an old French tale, moved to the present-day United States. The source material was also dramatized on Adventures from the Book of Virtues.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: Played with during the sex scene; the camera does pan away, but only far enough to show the remote going automatically to fast forward, and Micheal's shadow. The aftershot with the Modesty Bedsheet shows them, but only he's satisfied.
• Shout-Out: a comedically vulgar one to Barney & Friends.
  ''I love you! You love me! That jogger had giant boobies!''
• Slow-Motion Pass-By: Invoked by Michael. He fast forwards time to go to work, but on the way, he sees a buxom jogger he wants to stare at, so he slows down time when she's passing near him.
• Soulless Shell: Michael becomes this whenever he uses fast-forward; his body operates on "auto-pilot" and fulfills basic functions autonomously, but he does not consciously remember what happened during these periods.
• Space Whale Aesop: The aesop of "don't take your life for granted" is delivered via a magic remote that can skip your life for you and tailor itself to your choices.
• Suicide as Comedy: When the remote skips Michael ten years after his promotion on Ammer's mention of making him head of the company's international division in Eric Lamensoff's place after moving with Janine to Morocco, a fat Michael wakes up in a futuristic room to a call from Ammer announcing Lamensoff's suicide and laughing at it.
  Ammer: Where up, big guy? Ten years ago, you told me you wanted to be CEO. Great news, Eric Lamensoff killed himself! [chuckles] So you better stop with the junk food, Mr. Chairman, or you'll end up killing yourself too! [laughs]
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: Subverted at the end of the movie. As Michael is making amends with his family, he finds the remote in his house, with a letter from Morty, saying "I know you'll do the right thing this time". Michael, however, throws the remote into the trash, and after making sure it's gone for good (earlier, he was unable to get rid of the remote regardless of what he did), he goes off to play with his kids. Of course, that may have been what Morty meant.
• Sweet Tooth: Michael loves to snack on Hostess Twinkies and Ho-Hos and yodels whenever he's dealing with his stressful underpaid job. His son Benjamin also takes after his father, trying to sneak into his Twinkie stash and eating ice cream at the swimming pool party. This would come back to negatively affect both father and son as alternate futures from the remote reveal that their eating habits have contributed to their obesity down the line.
• Tap on the Head: When Michael tries to read an exasperated Donna his note from when they first met despite knowing her rants triggered the remote's automatic fast-forward function, the family's third pet dog shoves him into a wall, knocking him unconscious and skipping him six years to a hospital room.
• Teeny Weenie: The main character's "tiny schmeckle" is a running gag over the course of the movie.
• Tempting Fate: When Michael wakes up after fast-forwarding himself to 10 years, he says, "How much worse can things get?". To his surprise, he realizes that he has become horribly obese:
  Michael: OH MY GOD! I'M A FAT GUY!
• Time-Freeze Trolling Spree: After getting the remote, Michael stops time whenever he needs to get back at people who make his life miserable.
  • After coming home from work to see Ben playing catch outside with Kevin O'Doyle, who insults the former for not being able to catch the ball, Michael pauses time when Ben throws the ball to set Kevin up to get hit by it. After he unpauses time, the brat runs off crying for his mom.
  • After learning Ammer won't make him his associate yet even after getting Watsuhita's account for him, he pauses time and farts in his face. When he unpauses time, Ammer chews the odor and is tricked into thinking Stacy tainted his food.
  • After the remote skips Michael to 2017 and he learns Donna remarried Bill, Michael kicks him in the balls several times (so Bill has no idea why they hurt when time starts playing again), and later in 2023 he pulls down Bill's pants (and exposes his Speedos) at Ben's wedding.
• Time Stands Still: Played (mostly) for laughs when Michael gets a "universal" remote control that enables him to pause, rewind, or fast-forward through time.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Michael loves his Hostess snack Twinkies and Yodels.
• Trailers Always Lie: There was little indication in the ads that this film would make the switch to drama. The main trailer did slightly hint that things would get darker by showing the remote fast-forwarding to Samantha as a teenager and a horrified Michael saying "what else did I miss?", but even then it didn't completely let on how serious the second half would get. It also notably edits footage to make it appear that Michael has not yet become horribly obese by this point.
• Title Drop: How Morty tells Michael how to use the remote.
  Morty: Just point and click.
• Trickster Mentor: Morty, portrayed by Christopher Walken in a role similar to his character in Nine Lives (2016).
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Michael and Donna. Even Morty makes a mention on this:
  Morty: By the way, your wife? Absolutely gorgeous.
  Michael: She is, isn't she?
  Morty: Perfect face. Tight, rocking body. [looks lustfully at Donna]
  Michael: You okay?
  Morty: Amazing.
  Michael: What is?
  Morty: She fell for a schlub like you.
• The Un-Favorite: Unintentional, but it certainly comes across that way with Michael's daughter, Samantha. While he has several heart-to-heart moments with his son Ben during the time skips, he has no similar scenes with her; their only interactions are a Running Gag about his discomfort with her being attractive and having breasts, though she is mentioned to have stayed at the hospital for thirty hours straight waiting for him to awaken from a heart attack.
• Unnaturally Blue Lighting: As the film shifts from comedic to dramatic, the color palette becomes noticeably more blue. By the time Michael dies, practically the only colors he's surrounded by are blue and white.
• Universal Remote Control: Adam Sandler's character finds a universal remote at Bed, Bath, and Beyond that allows him to pause and fast-forward time, among other settings. The problem emerges when it turns out that it saves his preferences and starts acting on its own, causing him to miss out on a lot. It also cannot be returned, thrown away, or destroyed, as it will always reappear in the owner's possession in perfect condition regardless of what was done to it.
• Un-Paused: Michael can pause reality and things will continue as if nothing happened when he hits play... but if something does happen — if he interacts with the world while it's paused — it will take effect as soon as he unpauses it. Example: pause, kick ex-wife's boyfriend in the crotch, unpause, watch poor bastard hit the ground with no idea why he's in so much pain.
• Victory Cigar: After using the remote to eavesdrop on Watsuhita and his subordinates to guess the hotel design they want and thus impress Ammer into making him his associate, Michael buys, apart from bikes for his kids and a handbag for Donna, a cigar to celebrate it. However, it's subverted the next day at work when Ammer reveals they're still not associates yet, much to Michael's dismay.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: During the periods where the Remote "fast-forwards" through his life, Michael becomes one of these.
• Wham Line:
  • This exchange between Michael and Morty in the cemetery after visiting Ted's grave.
    Morty: [standing at Ted's grave] I'm sorry about your father. Taking him wasn't something I wanted to do.
    Michael: What do you mean "taking him"?
    Morty: I'm an angel, Michael.
    Michael: An angel? I thought an angel was supposed to protect people.
    Morty: I'm the Angel of Death.
  • At Ben's wedding, Michael (who had rather come to terms with Bill being his ex-wife's new husband) is having a friendly dance with her, while he sees his daughter Samantha and Bill dancing together, talking.
    Bill: Let's go get some cake!
    Samantha: Race you there, dad!
    Michael: ...Dad? (Cue heart attack).
  • Not long after Michael fast-forwards to the day of his promotion, he gets these bombshells dropped on him.
    Michael: Are you kidding me? [John and Janine] have been dating a couple months now? That's pretty huge for this one.
    Janine: No, the first few months were easy. It was the one-year hump that was the tough part.
    […]
    Michael: It took that bastard a year to promote me?
  • After Michael skips years ahead:
    Ben: Grandpa... died, Dad. He died a while back now.
• Wham Shot: The first time the remote activates Auto Fast-Forward to skip past Michael and Donna's argument in the therapy office. From this point on, Michael's life is almost entirely out of his hands as he can't stop the remote from fast-forwarding past everything in his life that he's previously skipped.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Possibly one of the few times in media a character gets to directly give one to himself. When Michael uses the remote to revisit the last time he saw his father, as his past self brushes him off the present-day Michael berates him for his behavior, calling him pathetic.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Michael working too hard already causes him to miss some of his children's important events. The remote's fast forwarding makes it even worse as he ends up skipping days and even years of events while the rest of him is on "autopilot".
• Workaholic: Michael's Fatal Flaw is him focusing too much on building up his career or spending time with his family.
• Yet Another Christmas Carol: It doesn't take place at Christmas, but it otherwise follows the same structure: Michael is a workaholic who's slowly alienating those around him, then he meets a supernatural being who shows him scenes of his past, present, and a Bad Future, and then returns him to the present with An Aesop.