Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Review: Pixels

Okay, how much crap am I going to get for admitting I actually enjoyed Pixels? I think i had expectations set to the lowest possible setting, not just because of the reviews, but more because that's my default setting for any Adam Sandler movie. It was VERY stupid, intentionally so, but not especially so for a Sandler movie, in fact, it's pretty much his Citizen Kane, and yes I'm including Punch Drunk Love in that calculation. So I'm not a fan, but, I'll be honest, I laughed a lot and I caught myself being actually anxious to see if these videogame has-beens could save the day even though the end was never in doubt. Yes, I actually bought into the premise and managed to suspend disbelief. That's gotta count for something. Throw in that and some 80s nostalgia, and yeah, it had me. I enjoyed it far more than Minions, which seemed just like the summation of a 15 minute pot fueled bullpen session with little thought beyond the merchandising tie-ins. Pixels more than cleared that hurdle and actually made me care about these creepy and intentionally unlikable losers.
Was it the greatest film ever? Hardly, but it was just egregiously stupid fun. Sometimes I wonder what bee got up the critics' posterior. The whole thing from start to finish was just one long lampshade and should have been treated with the Everest size grain of salt it warranted. Yes we are doing it and yes it's ridiculous, so just go with it. You would have thought they were promised the video game equivalent of Wuthering Heights and got...well...a typical Adam Sandler movie.