1492 Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Happy Madison Productions,
Michelle Monaghan, Adam Sandler, Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage, Ashley Benson, Josh Gad, Kevin James, Jane Krakowski
Will Cooper (Kevin James) and Sam Brenner (Adam Sandler) were best friends as kids. In 1982 they competed in the Arcade Video Game World Championship. Sam came in second. The contest was taped, and along with other pop culture icons of the 80’s and the tape was sent in a capsule into space in the hope that an alien race might find it and come to visit. Decades have now passed, and Will has now become President of the United States, while Sam is working as an nerd squad installer of TV’s, sound systems, and game consoles. As they had hoped, an alien race has received the video tape, but misunderstood it as a declaration of war, and so now they have sent a war ship of real creations of video game characters to engage the Earth in a 3 life, winner take all, video game challenge. President Cooper has to call on Sam and their old crew to assist the military in a battle to save the world.
I was really anxious to see this film, mostly because I lived through the brief period of the height of the arcade period. My four sons and I spent plenty of quarters on the classic games. I can remember when Pong arrived, and was quickly followed by Asteroids, Space Invaders, and then a lineup of new games every week it seems. So I was interested in the the subject matter. I knew folks who had reservations as Sandler has lately had a rather weak batting average in the box office of late, unless it’s a rom-com with Drew Barrymore. But now that I’ve finally got a chance to see this film, I was NOT disappointed. Sandler did a really good job in this one, and he and Kevin James did a pretty good job with the assistance of Peter Dinklage, Sean Bean, and Michelle Monaghan. The story was really well done, and the tributes to the arcade games of our younger years was a lot of fun. Unfortunately they gave a lot of the best scenes away in the trailer, but still it was well done. It’s not really serious, it’s 99% comedy. But the gags are really good, and there are a lot of fun times here. This was one of those experiences where you can just kick back, eat your popcorn, and relax. No suspense, and the action is tongue in cheek, but there’s a lot of action, and the game play is very Ghostbuster-like. I enjoyed this film a lot, and I wish I had gone to see it a lot earlier. I don’t know why I waited so long. If you don’t mind silly concepts and Adam Sandler/Kevin James style humor, then you may not like it. But if you don’t mind that, I would highly recommend this one.
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