Adam Sandler movies are probably the easiest targets for scrutiny, what with the general movie-going public being pretty divided on whether they're funny or not. Pixels was no exception to this rule, and it seemed like it was destined for an Honest Trailer from the moment it first was announced. So the video below is a natural eventuality, which makes it all the more enjoyable for those who really want to rail on the film. Prepare to watch and laugh.
You can thank the intrepid folks at Screen Junkies for diving once more into the abyss and digging up some genuine flaws that Pixels showed in its running time. While we must disclose that we gave the film a favorable rating in our review, there were still some things that actually didn't work. It may be hard to believe, but there were some problems with an Adam Sandler movie, and one of them was involving the film's female characters.
Nowhere was this more present than the "three different love stories about schlubs dating out of their leagues" present in Pixels' story line. While Adam Sandler winning over the attractive Michelle Monaghan was obvious, seeing as Sandler always wins the out of his league actress in his films, and Peter Dinklage's Martha Stewart/ Serena Williams sandwich gag was actually kind of funny, it's Josh Gad's love story that was the biggest game over we could spot in the entire film. We still don't get how Gad's Ludlow was ok with the fact that Q*Bert all of a sudden turned into Lady Lisa, only to go on to become a father to a pack of little orange babies. It's out there even for us.
Then, of course, there's the little things about Pixels that truly show the opportunities the film wasted, such as the egregious usage of product placement throughout the film. Obviously, the budget on Pixels was high enough that the studio wanted to recoup their investment any way they could. However, when the audience connects the dots between Dan Aykroyd's cameo in the film's prologue and the product placement showing off his Crystal Skull vodka later on in the film, you can see exactly why folks are still questioning his opinion of the new Ghostbusters film.
But the coup de grace of the sins committed by Pixels is the fact that not one, but two Game Of Thrones cast members were roped into the film, only to be let down by the material. Though Peter Dinklage makes a game effort out of the material he's given to work with, and manages to go crazy enough with his role that he gets some needed laughs, Sean Bean's short stint in the film is still inexcusable. The man's a legendary character actor, and all he gets is a couple of scenes as a standard grunt, and a gag with Brian Cox which may as well have triggered an 8-bit subtitle that read, "No homo! Lolz!"
Despite its faults, Pixels can still be a fun film to kill time with. It's not a perfect film by any means, but there have been much worse Adam Sandler movies. And from the looks of it, it doesn't look like we'll be rid of them anytime soon. Though if there are any of films from the worse side of the Adam Sandler spectrum that you think beat Pixels in the quality game, feel free to mention them in the Comments below.
