Pixelated Madison

At least he's trying something new

Oh Adam, you really can't grow up can you? I remember way back in the 90s Sandler's comedies were constantly rolling out year after year. Although they weren't the grandest of films, they were still hella' funny (The Waterboy remains my personal favorite) but up until 2011 Adam's comedies started growing stale and sloppy, and it didn't seem like he was trying anymore. And now we have Pixels, which appears to be an effort by Sandler and company to stray from the recycled humor they're notoriously known for in favor of doing something original. In the 80s, childhood friends Sam (Sandler) and Will (Kevin James) loved playing

arcade games, with Sam becoming an avid gamer memorizing the patterns of several games such as Centipede and Galaga. He enters in a world class arcade championship, an event that was recorded and stored in a time capsule and launched into space in hopes of coming in contact with any living form of intelligence. Fast forward into the present, alien beings have arrived and attacked Earth after recovering the time capsule, who mistook the images of the video games inside as a declaration of war. As such, they use video game icons such as Pac-Man to challenge the citizens of Earth for reign over the planet; otherwise they will claim it for themselves. Sam, who is now a technician is called in by Will who is now the U.S. President (remember, this is is still an Adam Sandler movie) in hopes of using his gaming skills to fight against the pixel invaders. Pixels had tremendous potential of a being a wonderful new franchise as well as a way to reinvigorate Sandler's fading star power, but sadly the film comes up short for that very reason: Adam Sandler. Anyone who's seen the actor's previous films knows what sort of comedy he tends to go for, and while he downplays it significantly in Pixels, Adam still uses a few of the tropes and cliches he's known for but in the very least there are no fart jokes this time, and for once Adam plays a character that isn't the most annoying of the cast; that honor belongs to Josh Gad, who irritated me the whole time (seriously, shouting every 5 minutes is not acting.) In the end, Pixels is a squandered opportunity for both Adam and the film itself. Much like a bad video game that you can finish in a weekend, this is only worth a rental.

-Reviewed by Razor, 10/29/15