Pixels

PIXELS



This was a good movie that's theater worthy!

          Adam Sandler really is a legendary actor that has been in some cult classic comedies, a few which will always be remembered, and has even guest appeared in a few iconic films. With that said he's unfortunately not what you would call a reliable source of entertainment. That's especially true in the last decade, going from fun films like The Longest Yard (2005), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), or Grown Ups (2010), to horrible disasters such as Jack and Jill (2011), You Don't Mess With A Zohan (2008, though I personally get a laugh from it), and possibly his worst film from 2009 in Funny People (with Seth Rogen and Eric Bana). You just never know how you'll personally react to an Adam Sandler-Happy Maddison film

          Fortunately this was a great delight, especially if you're a fan of the 80s in general,
vintage video games, or some crazy goofy comedy. Think of this movie as the Adam Sandler gamer version of the film Red (2010) . . . with deadly alien-generated game characters. A bunch of "retired" gamers find that the Earth is in peril and therefore must take up there old talents. They were the best, and age hasn't changed that! The story opens with the characters as children growing up in the 80s and seeing how they became the video game legends long forgotten in their later years. After that little look into the past we see where they all landed in life as adults. We see that some landed on their feet, some on their ass, and others, well others landed on body parts they didn't even know that they had. When the aliens attack we see the long ago childhood chums come back together again as if they were back in the 80s. The only difference is that this time . . . its to save the world!

          With a story so ridiculous and goofy the comedy had to be very well written, otherwise it wouldn't be funny. You can have a goofy situation and good written comedy, or a grounded and "normal" situation with goofy written comedy, but you can't have both. Or as Robert Downey Jr. said in Tropical Thunder (2008), "He went full retard, you can't go full retard". In the same fashion you can't go full goofy. Otherwise the comedy won't be worth enough for a theater ticket. There are an amazing amount of humorous references, both to the 80s in general and to video games, shout outs to current political situations and political figures, and the perfect delivery to that comedy.


         Josh Gadd is really the one who, I think, stole the show here. Everytime he spoke, I laughed. Just the way he looked when delivering a line, the way he sounded, it was all just ridiculously funny. You've seen how he went from soft and sincere in the Pac-Man scene, right before Professor Iwatani (inventor of Pac-Man) gets his hand bitten by his "son", and then goes into a full on freak out. Thats how he is the whole movie. You really never know how he'll react to a situation the whole movie but you assured to get a laugh. He actually reminds me of, and this is another reason I say it reminds me of a goofy gaming version of Red (2010), John Malkovich from Red. The ultimate paranoid hero who doesn't trust anyone but himself . . . and even then, not so much.

          I was also impressed by the performance of Paul Blar . . . I mean Kevin James, and
Michelle Monaghan. Michelle is the love interest of Sandler's character, Brenner, and
does a great job in handling the witty banter between her and the veteran funny man.
She also does a great job at handling the few dramatic points at the begining that
helps set up her character. And yes, Sandler did a great job too. He's learned how to
say a line so natural that it feels like straight up improvisation. It's funnier that
way I believe. So see the film, enjoy the film, and afterwards get your game on!