Adam Sandler would like to make something clear.

He's still a moron.

This despite the actor becoming a father, approaching his 40th birthday and regretting that life is passing him by so quickly. "I like being a moron," Sandler said at a news conference to promote his new movie, "Click." "My father called me a moron, my grandfather said I was a moron, and a lot of times when I'm driving, I hear I'm a moron."

There's good reason he doesn't mind the insult. He has gotten rich from moronic on-screen behavior. Movies such as "Big Daddy" and "Happy Gilmore" made him one of Hollywood's most bankable actors by appealing to fans — primarily teenagers and young men — who refuse to grow up.

Which makes "Click" an interesting sell. The movie about a man who controls his world with a magical remote control casts Sandler in some very adult situations. He's a husband, a devoted father and an architect vying for a promotion.

Will the fanboys buy Sandler in a role where he has to deliver dramatic monologues and even tear up a little?

"His biggest movies are the ones with broad comedy appeal," says Gitesh Pandya of boxofficeguru.com. "He's older, but his hits will still need to have some of that immature guy humor."

"Click" might be the right blend, Pandya says.

"It has the goofy comedy for the guys, but it's showing a more grown-up side for female audiences," Pandya says.

That mature side is also on display in Sandler's private life, says co-star Kate Beckinsale, who initially knew of Sandler for his raunch. When she accepted the part, she thought her role on the set "might just be this roaming pair of breasts. And everybody would be watching sports."

But Sandler, who had a daughter, Sadie Madison, last month, is hardly the juvenile he plays on-screen. If anything, Beckinsale says, Sandler has taken a turn for the paternal.

But that doesn't mean Sandler has lost touch with his infantile side. Take this reflection on working with co-star David Hasselhoff, who plays his evil boss.

"I feel a huge sense of accomplishment" doing drama, Sandler says. "But I'd rather go to work and (break wind) in Hasselhoff's face."