by Philip Price This is not your yearly dose of Dennis Dugan's Adam Sandler if that's what you're thinking. No, as big as “Pixels” looks in its marketing it actually is on the big screen. There seems to have been no expense too big, which includes flawless special effects, big action set pieces, legitimate craftsmanship and, unfortunately for Sandler, the hiring of quality actors to play opposite him that only stand to make him look all the more lazy. While this isn't your typical Dugan/Sandler fest in the vein of “Grown Ups” or “Jack and Jill” it is still Sandler phoning it in, doing what he's done every summer since about 2002 when Mr. Deeds more or less set him on a patterned course. There have naturally been deviations both in his comedy and into more serious territory since then, but the comedian always returns to his safe zone and delivers exactly what he believes his teen and contemporary audiences want from him. There is too much going on in “Pixels” for this to count purely as another Sandler bomb though and fortunately “Pixels” won't be judged on the immediate reactions of modern critics looking to dismiss the movie because of a single component before even walking into the theater. It is sometimes shocking, the vitriol which is spewed in Sandler's general direction, but I admit the majority of it is well-founded. With “Pixels” though, it will be the children of today who truly define what role this film will play as part of our pop culture society. In case you are unfamiliar with the name Chris Columbus (and no, not the Italian explorer) he is the guy that brought to life some of my generation’s favorite childhood films whether they be both ‘Home Alone’ 1 and 2, “Mrs. Doubtfire” or even the first two ‘Harry Potter’ films. Columbus has a knack for tapping into what makes kids enlist their truest sense of wonderment and he seems to have modernized that technique here while still remaining true to the decade that gave him his start. I'm not saying “Pixels” is as good as anything else in Columbus's filmography, but I am saying kids will love this movie and likely champion it through their teenage years and into their twenties as a haze of nostalgia will keep their love of it intact. So, while these words I write will have little to no impact not only on anyone venturing out to theaters this weekend, but also on those who will find something of a comfortable affection in the film fifteen years from now I have to wonder what the point in saying anything about the film is. If you are here simply looking for information about the movie the fact is you probably already know it stars Adam Sandler and that may or may not be enough to sway you in either direction, but if you're looking for things you might not know, here are a few: “Pixels” has a good premise. It is actually based on a short film from 2010 directed by Patrick Jean. Jean doesn't seem to have been consulted on this version of his initial idea, though I'm sure he was handsomely compensated for his initial contribution. Instead, Columbia hired writers Tim Herlihy (a regular Sandler collaborator) and Timothy Dowling (“Role Models,” “This Means War”) to flesh out a long-form story for the concept and what they came up with were aliens misinterpreting video feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war, thus attacking Earth in the form of those games. Still pretty solid, right? Cool. To preface this whole end-of-the-world-scenario, Herlihy and Dowling introduce us to a couple of kids from the ’80s who just so happen to also be the arcade game champions. There is of course Sam Brenner (Sandler) who picks up on the patterns of Pac Man, Centipede and Galaga instantly and his best friend Will Cooper (Kevin James) who is not great at games, but is pretty solid with the claw and grows up to be the president of the United States. Let that sink in. Past it? Okay, there is also wunderkind Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad) who is a gamer and major conspiracy theorist as well as Eddie "The Fire Blaster" Plant (Peter Dinklage) who beat Brenner at the 1982 World Championships, but has since been imprisoned for fraud or something like that. Why he's in jail doesn't matter, only that he wants to get out and get with either Serena Williams or Martha Stewart. Still going with this? Sweet. These are the guys that are going to save the world — cue the Cheap Trick! If you thought Target was offensive to women, wait until you get a load of “Pixels.” Yeesh. The females in this film are so one-note and serve the purpose of only being literal trophies for the male leads that I forgot to mention Michelle Monaghan actually has a fairly large part in the movie. As Lt. Col. Violet Van Patten, Monaghan is a kind of weapons specialist who supplies the "arcaders" with unique weapons that help them fight the aliens. It's not that all of the details have to necessarily make a lot of sense, but we hardly get an explanation at all when it comes to these defenses (much less anything else). There is something of an effort in the first round when Monaghan's Van Patten takes the gamers through her top secret lab and explains how they created technology similar to that used in the games, but by the time we get to the Pac Man sequence she might as well have said, "the cars will work because they're the same colors as the ghosts." Monaghan is a strong female presence and more than a solid actress, but after the one-two punch of this and last year’s “The Best of Me” it may be time for her to find a new agent. Then there is the wasted talent of the hilarious Jane Krakowski (“30 Rock,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) who plays the first lady and is seemingly only present to cling to Kevin James's arm and bake a cake with him. It feels like there was more of a story to Krakowski's role that was left on the cutting room floor, otherwise I find it hard to believe she'd show up for a week’s worth of work. And then there is Ashley Benson (“Pretty Little Liars,” “Spring Breakers”) who exists purely as a figment of Lamonsoff's fantasy world. As Lady Lisa, Benson is required to strut around in a skin-tight red dress and wield samurai swords for little reason other than delivering Lamonsoff a reward for helping to save the world. There is a caveat in the challenges from the alien invaders that anytime the humans win a battle they get to keep a trophy which results in Q*bert becoming a comedic sidekick, but by the end (Spoiler alert!) sees him sacrificing himself for the sake of Lamonsoff's weird fetish. As awful as I may have made this movie sound so far, I swear to you that kids will still have a good time with it. There is a fondness for the generational gap that separates the makers from the intended audience (though I can't fathom why they went for a PG-13 with this). Sandler and Columbus know a thing or two about nostalgia as they now seem to gloriously admit to loving everything about the ’80s simply because of the time it represents in their lives. They seem to want this to become true of their movie because even if they know it's not the greatest thing at the moment, the kids who take it in today will hold it close to their hearts when this year has long passed and their movie becomes a part of the memories that made the summer of 2015 a memorable one. That may be giving Sandler too much credit though as he's never looked as tired or felt more out of touch with reality than he does here. What's worse is that as fine as this movie is when it comes to kid’s entertainment, it could have been so much better. Both Gad and Dinklage create fully-formed characters who have a few successful comedic moments (though the one where Gad sings “Tears for Fears” is just awkward) that genuinely made me laugh. Still, Dinklage is hardly in the movie after his introduction more than a half-hour in and Gad is so spastic and unpredictable in his somewhat bipolar antics that it's hard to gauge what exactly his character arc was meant to be. Either way, the effort these guys along with Monaghan and even Brian Cox (though his character is about as well developed as Krakowski's — what was that scene of him sitting alone at his desk looking all evil?) put into their performances make Sandler look all the more lazy by comparison. Writing through my thoughts on the film have certainly caused me to reflect on the number of issues it has that I didn't initially take issue with. Still, it is hard to challenge the level of entertainment and fun that can be had with “Pixels” if you go in with the mindset it expects from you. After all, kids and general moviegoers don't care if Sandler gives a performance or if he's coasting. If there's a good performance to be seen, they'll recognize it, but if it is nothing more than what they're accustomed to and the movie is entertaining enough they'll let it pass. “Pixels” gets a pass.
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by Philip Price Judd Apatow is something of an enigma due to his seeming omnipotence over the comedy world in television and film. In truth though, he's only made five feature films and directed a handful of TV episodes for series he had a hand in creating. I understand the complaints lodged against Apatow and his comedies, but regardless I'm a big fan of his. In a strange way, Apatow seems to want to do with comedy what Christopher Nolan is doing with mainstream blockbusters. His movies are large in length, deep in character and entrusted with themes bigger than just those intended to make people laugh. Apatow is telling human stories and including the humor so often involved, but so difficult to naturally convey. To capture the genuine way we exchange laughs and cultivate jokes through piles of conversation and inside references is no easy task, but Apatow is attempting to crack this the best he knows how and, if nothing else, he should be applauded for the effort. Apatow wants to make comedy as epic and cutting to others as it is to him. While his last two features (“Funny People” and “This is 4”0) didn't receive the warm critical reception of his first two (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up”) I couldn't help but feel I understood the journey he was on and the goal he was trying to reach. With his latest,”Trainwreck,” Apatow has ventured into new territory which is likely for the best when considering his career trajectory while simultaneously keeping his legacy intact. “Trainwreck,” though, doesn't feel like an Apatow film. This is due to the fact that it really isn't. “Trainwreck” is an Amy Schumer film through and through and there is nothing wrong with that, but any seasoned comedy director could have delivered this product. This is Apatow's first feature directing gig where he didn't also write the script and the lack of investment becomes apparent. Beginning with a shot that elicits the quality of the photographs produced in the early ’80s I imagined we were going to get a full throttle collaboration between two solid, comedic minds that understand perception and honesty to the point of delivering it in a funny manner. The comedy isn't the problem, the characters aren't an issue and the story is fine for what it is, but the directing seems to default to autopilot rather quickly so as to competently document The Amy Schumer Show. Apatow let's Schumer take the reins and doesn't infuse the project with his own flavor, making him feel more like a director for hire than a collaborator. Some people may think this is for the best when it comes to “Trainwreck” as a whole. The less Apatow, the less indulgence, right? After all, this is Schumer's seeming breakthrough moment and this breakthrough was inevitable so why not at least have it ushered in by someone with the clout of Apatow, right? It makes sense for both of their careers and will only call for some to claim that Apatow is back (win for him!) while Schumer will get the broad exposure she and Universal were seeking with such a project (win for her!). If nothing else,”Trainwreck” serves its purpose in pushing forward the ability for a woman to make a film about the kind of woman she wants to make a film about. That the powers that be, whether those be Apatow or the producers he convinced to invest, decided to give Schumer this large of a platform and trusted in her vision all the way through to the delivery of the final cut is something to write home about and the comedian takes full advantage of this opportunity. Schumer, who began as a stand-up comedian and landed her own Comedy Central show, “Inside Amy Schumer” in 2013 has become an increasingly larger presence in pop culture as of late and while “Trainwreck” may not be the film we deserve from a collaboration between Schumer and Apatow, it is the one both of them needed. I say this because there is an element of missed opportunity to the cohesion of everything at play here while an opposing part of me asks, “what more could you ask for?” Schumer, who describes the film as being heavily inspired by her own real-life experiences and revolves around “a commitment-averse woman trying to get past her self-sabotaging ways,” is all you really need to know concerning the story. The film more or less plays to the archetypes of any romantic comedy you've ever seen that is set in New York City and then spins those familiar circumstances with a more grounded, real-world view. While the beats are familiar and the outcome obvious, there is plenty to admire about the beast that is “Trainwreck.” First and foremost is Schumer herself as she delivers a more layered performance than I expected while also crafting a script that doesn't shy away from the complications that exist in life outside of the, “will they or won’t they end up together?” It's easy to see what Schumer's comfort zone is as she points and prods herself with unlimited self-deprecation so as to humble herself to those around her while slyly pointing out everyone's shortcomings. There is a cutting yet padded nature to her honesty, which Apatow was no doubt attracted to, and by including common attributes such as the NYC setting, the job at a style magazine, the lush apartment that job could never pay for, the clueless, but supportive best friend (Vanessa Bayer) and the potential game-changer who just so happens to have an amazing job and connections that will make the dating phase seem like even more of a fantasy than it already is, she appeals to the allusion all of those rom-com's of years past have given birth to before turning each on their head. Schumer, who plays a girl named Amy, is a mess. Amy is having fun, but at the cost of spoiling anything that might be worthwhile down the road. She of course doesn't realize this as she looks at men as little more than objects to be conquered for her pleasure and then set free so as not to enlist any expectation on her part. In short, she is like any male protagonist we typically see in these kinds of movies. Rather than making a film targeting women with a male still in the lead though, Schumer places herself dead center with the roles being completely reversed as every male character in “Trainwreck” is all in when it comes to long-lasting, meaningful relationships. Schumer isn't saying all men are like this, just as she isn't saying all women share Amy's mentality, but more making the statement there are always a mix of personalities and opinions, but that she's here to represent a different kind of one than we're accustomed to. Outside of subverting these rom-com clichés though the film adds in the layers necessary for us to become truly compassionate with these characters. It is the added details of Amy's sister, Kim (Brie Larson), transcending their father’s advice that monogamy is a ridiculous concept to find happiness in a husband (Mike Birbiglia) and stepson, Allister (Evan Brinkman), despite Amy constantly questioning how anything such as a family could be more than an anchor. Add into this somewhat strenuous relationship the fact they have recently put their father (a wonderful Colin Quinn) into an assisted living situation that they are having trouble financing and everything all of a sudden feels more credible. This aspect of the story requires for Schumer to be as much a dramatic actor as she is a comedic presence and to my great surprise, she nails it. The ability to convey this range of emotions convincingly is almost symbolic of the range of talent Schumer still has to share with the world. Given “Trainwreck” is only serving as a glimpse of what we're in for — granted this film does well and Schumer is granted more opportunities like this — I can't wait to see what is to come. This more dramatic territory also balances the scale with the more fantastical elements of the script that deal with Bill Hader's sports doctor, Aaron Conners, whose life regularly has sports stars walking in and out of it, including LeBron James (who is really pretty great in a decent-sized role). Speaking of Hader, he was maybe the more interesting hook of this film for me given I wasn't overly familiar with Schumer's stand-up, but had enjoyed watching Hader on SNL for years. I remember watching the "Finding Ben Stone" featurette on the “Knocked Up” DVD and wondering what it might have been like were Apatow not clearly positioning that film as the Seth Rogen breakout that it was. This featurette included a handful of mock auditions from other comedians in the role of Stone. The audition I remember the most was that of Hader's who had just started his run on SNL at the time and instead of acting like a regular guy kept doing different impressions for each take. Ever since Hader left SNL as one of the more celebrated players in the show’s illustrious history, I have been waiting for him to take a leading role in a major comedy that might allow him to transition from cast member to movie star. Given my hopes, “Trainwreck” couldn't have turned out better in this regard. Hader, who is typically required to play the off-beat and weird character is little more than the average guy here. Aaron has an exceptional profession, sure, but his ability to find a woman he enjoys spending time with and feels a sincere connection with is as complicated for him as it is for the rest of us. Hader also plays Aaron with such a charming and optimistic worldview that it's impossible not to like him. He means well in his intentions and has no ulterior motives that strike us as overly dramatic for the sake of being a character in a movie. Aaron, like Amy and Kim, are simply looking for things to make their lives more fulfilling. While Schumer cloaks her simple yet profoundly affecting statements in vulgar sex jokes and tons of alcohol it's easy to see that by the end, Schumer's own desires are as heartfelt as we'd all like to think everyone's are. All of this isn't to say the film is a perfect balance of wit and charm or of light and heavy, but it handles all of this well if not experiencing some of the same issues Apatow always runs into. The film could certainly stand to be cut down a bit as more than anything there are too many characters at play here; some of which are given more screen time than necessary. John Cena is a surprisingly funny presence as a precursor to Aaron, but he gets one too many scenes as does the whole subplot concerning Ezra Miller. Cena has two big scenes with Schumer (one in a theater and one in bed) and both have their moments, but we only needed one of them for the point to be made. The whole storyline dealing with Miller's character is through Amy's job and concerns her boss, played by Tilda Swinton, who I've failed to mention thus far, but who I would have liked to see more of simply because her performance is so curious. While Swinton is something of a mystery in what exactly she's doing in this movie, Miller's presence only serves to set-up circumstances in the third act that could have been configured in a smoother way. Since we're talking about the third act, let's just say it lags more than it needed to. This is a staple of Apatow films as he allows scenes and jokes to go on longer than they probably should, but while “Trainwreck” finds it necessary to go through the whole "break-up before they get back together" deal I found it unnecessarily slow given the exuberant pacing of the rest of the film and the fact we know where it will end anyway. The final scene of the film really wins you over; it more or less redeems itself for its last act drag and leaves you remembering the good parts more than the necessary ones. I appreciate the efforts that attempt to make something prestigious out of dick jokes and that's what Apatow (if not necessarily as a director, but more as a supporter and mentor) has helped Schumer to craft here — an elegant and intelligent take on people who sometimes aren't. |
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