When a race of aliens intercept a videotape containing footage of classic video games and misinterpret them as a declaration of war, they decide to attack Earth using those games as weapons. In order to combat them, President Will Cooper (Kevin James) recruits his old childhood friend and former classic video game champion and current “nerd installer” Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler), to lead a team of classic video game players Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad) and Eddie Plant (Peter Dinklage) and also a colonel and weapons developer Violet van Patten (Michelle Monaghan) to try to save the planet.
After reading some of the other reviews for this film, I found that most people did not like this film. I understood some of their points but I didn’t think it is as bad as they made it out to be. I just want to say that despite the fact that the trailer makes it look like the film is for kids, it is not. This film is recommended for at least teens. Adam Sandler’s films this last decade have been rather hit or miss but mostly misses and this one is not a miss but is not quite a hit either. Just like his films, the jokes in this one are hit or miss but in this case, they are mostly hits with some misses. The acting in this film wasn’t remarkable either. Adam Sandler plays the same character he has played in numerous other films. The role could have probably been played by another actor and be just as good if not better. Kevin James is serviceable as President Cooper. Josh Gad was good as the clumsy, fat guy Ludlow and got to recite some of the film’s funniest one-liners. Peter Dinklage’s Eddie was arguably trying too hard. Michelle Monaghan’s Violet was ok but had no chemistry with Sam which made their romantic scenes a little cringe-worthy and unbelievable. Sure the story doesn’t make too much sense either but the film wasn’t meant to be taken seriously and does a decent job of not taking itself too seriously either. For me, the best part of the film has to be the special effects. The way in which they bring all the classic video games to life was rather good. All of the classic video games of the 80s were well represented which was appreciated. The way in which people go in and out of pixelation and how environments got destroyed via pixelation was nice to see. I was also curious as to how they were able to alter old 80s video footage as well (I won’t spoil why this happens). This film is nowhere near the best film of the year and will probably not be on any best of thew year lists but I was entertained. If you just turn off your brain and suspend belief and except what you are given, I think you’d all enjoy it too.
Score: 6.5/10
If you liked this, please read my other reviews here.
The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.