Yes, Pixels has finally made it to our shores, after a dismal box office in the U.S. and a hammering by critics, it has resulted in many think pieces on the internet asking if Adam Sandler’s dominance in Hollywood is finally over. Now he’s always been a target for critics but the big question is does he or this movie really deserve such a beating? Yes. Yes he does. The film... a little bit.
Pixels is set in an Adam Sandler world where Kevin James is the President of the United States and is life-long buddies with Sandler’s video game protege back in 1982. When the world is attacked by giant pixel video game characters like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, it’s up to Sandler, Josh Gad, Peter Dinklage, token pretty lady (played by the stunning Michelle Monaghan) and.... groan.... Kevin James to save the day with their superior video game skills. Peter Dinklage is good for his small role in the film (no pun intended) but he’s still delivering that cringe-worthy humour that Rob Schneider would have normally delivered.
The film does have some flickers of Columbus magic, especially during the build up to the reveal of the giant pixel monsters but despite his best efforts this film still has Sandler’s grubby man-child fingerprints all over it. We have all the usual “Sandlerisms”: eighties rock music and power-ballads, people just accepting idiotic scenarios like a President who can’t read, and the casting of all of Sandler’s friends who would have died of starvation years ago had they not been his buddy. It’s not David Spade this time, not Rob Scheinder, that other guy.... yeah that one... f*ck I hate that guy. One of the other big “Sandlerisms” that happens in every Sandler film is, SPOILER ALERT, things always work out for Sandler no matter how illogical the resolution may be.
So look, lots of discussions have been had about Sandler refusing to grow with his audience but I don’t think that Sandler is 100% to blame for this most recent effort. I think the problem lies with Sony Pictures enabling him and also applying their own kind of, what I’ve started to call “Sony Logic” to things. For example, Sony’s need to always ensure in any of their films that there are personal links between all the characters regardless of believability and it gets shoe-horned into the storyline no matter how much lube is required. They’ve done this with films like Men In Black, Spider-Man and pretty much every other Sandler production.There is no reason for Adam Sandler to personally know the President before being asked to save the world, there’s no need to have Sandler meet Monaghan’s character before visiting the White House, and spelling out plot devices in a slow phonetically sounding delivery by Dan Aykroyd is a greater insult to him than it is to us. Oh yeah and the Aykroyd cameo is stock-standard in any film when you’re trying to say your film is the “new Ghostbusters”, which it is not.
But ultimately the biggest issue, regardless of which actor is in what role is that none of these characters are likable or interesting enough to care about let alone spending 106 minutes with them. If you have to watch it then keep your expectations low, there are some good moments, but not enough to tolerate Sony and Sandler’s contempt for you as an audience member.
Pixels gets One out of Five Stars (One Star for Peter Dinklage’s appearance alone)
No comments:
Post a Comment