Pixels

Adam Sandler, in mopey dog wiseass mode, plays Brenner, installer of home video equipment and best friend to Cooper (Kevin James), the president of the United States. Brenner is a former video game whiz kid who lost a world championship to Eddie (Peter Dinklage) when he failed to come through during a round of Donkey Kong. That loss sent him on some sort of damaged ego spiral that ruined his life, while fellow gamer Cooper went on to be the leader of the free world. While Brenner is out making the rounds and trying to score with Violet (Michelle Monaghan), a customer going through marital turmoil, Guam is attacked by the 1980s video game Galaga. It turns out that aliens have retrieved a videotape of old games shot into space in the early '80s and interpreted it as a declaration of war on their planet. So they are sending old timey video games to wipe us out, and using dubbed footage of '80s icons like Daryl Hall, Ronald Reagan and Madonna as messengers. Brenner and his old buddies are recruited to save the world, Ghostbusters style, from Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, etc. A fun premise is rendered listless by a lame script lacking any signs of intelligence. Dinklage, a normally reliable actor, stinks up the place, as does Sandler and the rest.