Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) is an architect whose desire for promotion leads him to assume many tasks on behalf of his boss John Ammer (David Hasselhoff), with the result that he is often missed by his family. One night, Michael goes in search of a universal remote control for his appliances. Finding most stores closed, he enters the still open Bed, Bath and Beyond, where in the "Beyond" section he meets Morty (Christopher Walken), an eccentric inventor who gives him a remote control (from the "Way Beyond" section) answering to the description of "universal", warning Michael that it can never be returned. Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) is an architect whose desire for promotion leads him to assume many tasks on behalf of his boss John Ammer (David Hasselhoff), with the result that he is often missed by his family. One night, Michael goes in search of a universal remote control for his appliances. Finding most stores closed, he enters the still open Bed, Bath and Beyond, where in the "Beyond" section he meets Morty (Christopher Walken), an eccentric inventor who gives him a remote control (from the "Way Beyond" section) answering to the description of "universal", warning Michael that it can never be returned. To Michael's amazement, he finds out that the remote is literally universal: it controls the universe and interprets his wishes, even learning to anticipate them. After having some fun with it (even to the extent of breaking wind at Ammer's face), he decides to do something serious and fast-forwards to the promotion that he thought to be three months away. When he fast-forwards, a year has gone by instead. He receives his promotion but he and his wife are now in marriage counseling. Apparently, the remote is smart, and self-programming based on past experiences and is automatically programmed to skip or fast-forward through sickness, sexual intercourse, showering, traffic, arguments with Donna, and promotions. In each case, he is alive but on "autopilot" during the interim, so he has no conscious experience of what happened. When he figures out that is the way the remote has been programmed, he tries to destroy it, but it keeps regenerating.
