History YMMV / Pixels

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency
** Why the ''hell'' were Creator/PeterDinklage and Creator/SeanBean in this movie, if not to ride the ''Series/GameOfThrones'' hype at the time? The same can also be said about Creator/BrianCox, who never appeared on that show (though ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'' and ''Film/{{Troy}}'' fans may be pleased to see Sharpe and Hogan/Odysseus and Agamemnon together again).
** Creator/KevinJames plays the President of the United States. Pretty much every review of the film felt compelled to put up a NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer when they mentioned his casting. Some suspected that he was made the President purely so they could do the joke revealing his career after he complains about how much it sucks, as he otherwise acts exactly the same as any other Kevin James character.

** Eddie is found to have [[spoiler:used cheat codes for Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, invalidating his actual records.]] This character was based off of Billy Mitchell, the "King of Kong" ([[Film/TheKingOfKong who even got a movie documenting this]]), who in 2018 was stripped of his records after he was possibly found to have cheated by setting them via an emulator as opposed to a physical cabinet.[[note]]The evidence used is from the order the sprites load into the game. Billy's footage appears similar to at least one emulator, though not identical. Some have called for this to be treated with reasonable doubt, and his records could be reinstated if a version of the cabinet that loads sprites in the exact same order is found. Currently, though, none has been.[[/note]] Some were even happy to note that Billy looked sort of like a taller version of Peter.

* UnfortunateImplications: Several reviews accused the movie of sexism and stereotyping. Of course, it could harken back to the SaveThePrincess ExcusePlot goals that classic arcade games had but it is hardly defendable for a film past that era.
-->"[Ashley Benson is] a fictional video game heroine with zero lines of dialogue who exists only to look beautiful." (''[[http://www.guidelive.com/movie-reviews/2015/07/22/pixels-leans-heavily-video-game-nostalgia-collapses-c Dallas Morning News]]'').
-->"Worse, in ''Pixels'', women are rewards: If the guys save the world, their prize is a beauty — even Eddie's fantasy of a threesome with Serena Williams and Martha Stewart. Kudos, I suppose, to Williams and Stewart for braving a cameo." (''[[http://www.laweekly.com/film/pixels-is-the-annual-movie-that-glorifies-adam-sandler-for-refusing-to-grow-up-5830782 LA Weekly]]'')

** [[spoiler:Eddy also apparently used this same cheat code in "Pac Man" to win during his competitive arcade days, which opens up a whole host of FridgeLogic. For one, ''Pac Man doesn't have any cheat codes'', and being one of the most popular arcade games ever, almost anyone could tell you that. Not to mention how did he enter it at a tournament in front of dozens of spectators with no one noticing?]]

* WhatAnIdiot: Movie!Toru Iwatani thinking that because he created Pac-Man, it means he's able to tame an alien weapon designed after him and only shares the yellow orb's appearance.

** One plot point in the movie is that the military is completely inept at video games, forcing the protagonists to step in. As it turns out,
[[ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-61229305 the military is deeply entwined with gaming]]: a large number of personnel play games, the military uses videogame-like simulations for training, and (the British one at least) goes as far as to do Twitch livestreams and attend gaming festivals to booster public relations.

* CriticalResearchFailure: It's a major plot point that [[spoiler: one character used "cheat codes" in a ''VideoGame/PacMan'' tournament. First of all, ''Pac-Man'' '''doesn't have cheat codes'''. Second of all, the film never explains how said cheat codes were input, how they somehow functioned on the Ghost cars during the Pac-Man fight, or why there are cheat codes for the ghosts, characters you normally never play as in ''Pac-Man'' games.]]

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** The doctored '80s footage used to spread the aliens' message looks a little different now that the spread of deepfakes became a legitimate concern for ''the actual US government.''

** One of the stories featured in WesternAnimation/Futurama episode ''[[Recap/FuturamaS3E18AnthologyOfInterestII Anthology of Interest II]]'' is what if videogames were real, which starred Fry being the saviour of humanity at beating space invaders. It too played around with similar tropes and jokes to this movie almost 13 years prior to this film existing.

* TheScrappy: Ludlow garnered a lot of hate due to his constant screaming. His [[LoonyFan creepy tendencies]] towards Lady Lisa just made it even worse.

* UncertainAudience: Meshing the low-brow comedy of Creator/AdamSandler and relying on 80s games and/or references is not a combination with a wide appeals--gamers wouldn't like the low-effort jokes or how they are stereotyped as losers, and fans of this sort of humor would be alienated by not getting said references. Additionally, the script dismissing modern video games and highlighting arcade games from TheEighties as the pinnacle would earn the ire of gamers who would believed the film was about celebrating where video games got its start, not showcasing that time was when video games were at their most meaningful. The only people who will totally accept the latter are those who really never got past the days when arcade games were high-score based novelties, especially when out of all examples used for "meaningless modern games" was ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' which has been acclaimed as a masterpiece by critics and players for its cinematic storytelling and presentation. One wonders if they were obligated by Sony to use that game without Sony knowing the scene's purpose was, took any popular game available for the Playstation for random ProductPlacement, or whoever was behind production really wanted to showcase this particular game that set a standard still did not compare to what ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'' brings out.

** Why the ''hell'' were Creator/PeterDinklage and Creator/SeanBean in this movie, if not to ride the ''Series/GameOfThrones'' hype at the time? The same can also be said about Creator/BrianCox, who never appeared on that show (though ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'' and ''Film/{{Troy}}'' fans may be pleased to see Sharpe and Hogan/Odysseus and Agamemnon together again). Not to

* UncertainAudience: Meshing the low-brow comedy of Creator/AdamSandler and relying on 80s games and/or references is not a combination with a wide appeals--gamers wouldn't like the low-effort jokes or how they are stereotyped as losers, and fans of this sort of humor would be alienated by not getting said references. Additionally, the script dismissing modern video games and highlighting arcade games from TheEighties as the pinnacle would earn the ire of gamers who would believed the film was about celebrating where video games got its start, not showcasing that time was when video games were at their most meaningful. The only people who will totally accept the latter are those who really never got past the days when arcade games were high-score based novelties, especially when out of all examples used for "meaningless modern games" was ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' which has been acclaimed as a masterpiece by critics and players for its innovative storytelling and presentation. One wonders if they were obligated by Sony to use that game without knowing the scene's purpose, took any popular game available for the Playstation for random ProductPlacement, or whoever was behind production really wanted to showcase this particular game that set a standard still did not compare to what ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'' brings out.
* UnfortunateImplications: Several reviews accused the movie of sexism and stereotyping:
-->"[Ashley Benson is] a fictional video game heroine with zero lines of dialogue who exists only to look beautiful." (''[[http://www.guidelive.com/movie-reviews/2015/07/22/pixels-leans-heavily-video-game-nostalgia-collapses-c Dallas Morning News]]''). Of course, it could harken back to the SaveThePrincess goals that arcade games that the characters were familiar with but it is hardly defendable for a modern day cinematic film.

* UncertainAudience: Meshing the low-brow comedy of Creator/AdamSandler and relying on 80s games and/or references is not a combination with a wide appeals--gamers wouldn't like the low-effort jokes or how they are stereotyped as losers, and fans of this sort of humor would be alienated by not getting said references. Additionally, the script dismissing modern video games and highlighting arcade games from TheEighties as the pinnacle would earn the ire of gamers who would believed the film was about celebrating where video games got its start, not showcasing that time was when video games were at their most meaningful. The only people who will totally accept the latter are those who really never got past the days when arcade games were high-score based novelties, especially when out of all examples used for "meaningless modern games" was ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' which has been acclaimed as a masterpiece by critics and players for its innovative storytelling and presentation that was a step for gaming to be as taken as seriously as cinema.

* UncertainAudience: Meshing the low-brow comedy of Creator/AdamSandler and relying on 80s games and/or references is not a combination with a wide appeals - gamers wouldn't like the low-effort jokes or how they are stereotyped as losers, and fans of this sort of humor would be alienated by not getting said references.

-->"[Ashley Benson is] a fictional video game heroine with zero lines of dialogue who exists only to look beautiful." (''[[http://www.guidelive.com/movie-reviews/2015/07/22/pixels-leans-heavily-video-game-nostalgia-collapses-c Dallas Morning News]]'')

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The film overtly features dozens of surprisingly raunchy sex jokes, FamilyUnfriendlyDeath scenes, mild swearing and various other inappropriate stuff, but that hadn't stopped the film from getting much publicity for children, with outlets such as ''Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'' featuring promos and tie-ins for the film in the time up to its release.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: The President is a down-to-earth nice guy beset by all sorts of tiny problems (like low popularity ratings). Nevertheless, he is a fundamentally decent guy, enjoys a meaningful relationship with Great Britain, has an aggressive foreign policy, the film suggests that he is picked upon by the U.S. media because he is not educated or refined, and his disappointing polling numbers receive a boost from a series of high-profile attacks that result from eighties chickens coming home to roost. [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush He's the President you’d most like to have a beer with.]] Indeed, the actor’s very first scene features a riff on that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pet_Goat famous scene]] of George W. Bush reading the children's book "''The Pet Goat''" to a crowd of school children, and was then informed of one of the attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001; he stumbles over words, making it clear that he may not be the most eloquent individual to hold office.

** Why the ''hell'' were Creator/PeterDinklage and Creator/SeanBean in this movie, if not to ride the ''Series/GameOfThrones'' hype? The same can also be said about Creator/BrianCox, who never appeared on that show (though ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'' and ''Film/{{Troy}}'' fans may be pleased to see Sharpe and Hogan/Odysseus and Agamemnon together again).

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: The doctored '80s footage used to spread the aliens' message looks a little different now that the spread of deepfakes became a legitimate concern for ''the actual US government.''

* VideoGameMoviesSuck: Not based on a direct film adaptation to a specific game, but counts by using their characters, ''Pixels'' received very negative reviews from critics, and was one of two victims of this trope in 2015 (the other being ''Film/HitmanAgent47'').

* DesignatedHero: Sam, half because he's played by Creator/AdamSandler and the other half being because the film seems to be merely a vehicle for acting out a fantasy for his actor (as many reviews noted) - a former arcade master who [[ManChild never grew up emotionally]] gets to both save the world and start a relationship without having to really develop as a character.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Ludlow. He's supposed to be this relatable lonely {{Manchild}}, but that's undermined by the fact he comes off as [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} a complete kook]] who [[TheCloudcuckoolanderWasRight happened to be right about something once]] at best and an unstable pathetic lunatic at worst. See also his Lady Lisa obsession. You can't convince us she's his OneTrueLove when his actual behaviour is more in the ballpark of a LoonyFan with PerverseSexualLust, something the movie itself jokes about briefly. [[spoiler:And that's without touching on how he gets to have said heroine come to life and fall in love with him, for no reason, and then have Q*bert transform into her just to give him a happy ending, which again is so [[{{Glurge}} insufferable and disturbing to think about]] that Sam ''points it out''.]]

** Eddie is found to have [[spoiler:used cheat codes for Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, invalidating his actual records.]] This character was based off of Billy Mitchell, the "King of Kong" ([[Film/TheKingOfKong who even got a movie documenting this]]), who in 2018 was stripped of his records after he was possibly found to have cheated by setting them via an emulator as opposed to a physical cabinet[[note]]The evidence used is from the order the sprites load into the game. Billy's footage appears similar to at least one emulator, though not identical. Some have called for this to be treated with reasonable doubt, and his records could be reinstated if a version of the cabinet that loads sprites in the exact same order is found. Currently, though, none has been.[[/note]]. Some were even happy to note that Billy looked sort of like a taller version of Peter.

* FandomRivalry: Fans of the LetsPlay/{{Yogscast}} did ''not'' like fans of this film due to its advertising that tried to exploit the Yogscast fanbase. The Yogscast were originally approached to help promote the movie, but the group backed out of the negotiations when the ''Pixels'' people wanted full creative control over the promotions. But then marketing was made to specifically target the Yogcasts' various Youtube channels, using ads where the film's stars acted like the Yogscast wanted their fans to see the movie. This was all without including the Yogcast in the production of new adverts, paying them for using their channels as an advertising platform, or even ''pronouncing their name properly''. High profile members of the group such as LetsPlay/SimonLane, LetsPlay/HatFilms' Ross Hornby and artist Teutron all slammed the film (plus Sandler specifically) for [[https://twitter.com/SimonHoneydew/status/629313597114552320 what they view as]] [[https://twitter.com/Teutronz/status/629611007061684224 poor effort]], as well as [[https://twitter.com/djh3max/status/629641386556555264 shady conduct and poor behaviour]] at best.

* FandomRivalry: Fans of the LetsPlay/{{Yogscast}} did ''not'' like fans of this film due to its advertising that tried to exploit the Yogcast fanbase. The Yogscast were originally approached to help promote the movie, but the group backed out of the negotiations when the ''Pixels'' people wanted full creative control over the promotions. But then marketing was made to specifically target the Yogcasts' various Youtube channels, using ads where the film's stars acted like the Yogscast wanted their fans to see the movie. This was all without including the Yogcast in the production of new adverts, paying them for using their channels as an advertising platform, or even ''pronouncing their name properly''. High profile members of the group such as LetsPlay/SimonLane, LetsPlay/HatFilms' Ross Hornby and artist Teutron all slammed the film (plus Sandler specifically) for [[https://twitter.com/SimonHoneydew/status/629313597114552320 what they view as]] [[https://twitter.com/Teutronz/status/629611007061684224 poor effort]], as well as [[https://twitter.com/djh3max/status/629641386556555264 shady conduct and poor behaviour]] at best.

* CriticalResearchFailure: It's a major plot point that [[spoiler: one character used "cheat codes" in a ''VideoGame/PacMan'' tournament. First of all, ''Pac-Man'' '''doesn't have cheat codes'''. Second of all, the film never explains how said cheat codes were inputted, how they somehow functioned on the Ghost cars during the Pac-Man fight, or why there are cheat codes for the ghosts, characters you normally never play as in ''Pac-Man'' games.]]

* ShallowParody: President Will Cooper as a parody of the President UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush. He's introduced during a riff on the "The Pet Goat" incident on September 11, 2001. To put it mildly, the parody was no longer timely in 2015. Aside from the general idea of being a buffoon, there was little else to tie the fictional Will Cooper's behavior to the behavior of George Bush Jr.

** Eddie is found to have [[spoiler:used cheat codes for Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, invalidating his actual records.]] This character was based off of Billy Mitchell, the "King of Kong" ([[Film/TheKingOfKong who even got a movie documenting this]]), who in 2018 was stripped of his records after he was found to have cheated by setting them via an emulator as opposed to a physical cabinet. Some were even happy to note that Billy looked sort of like a taller version of Peter.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Part of the reason that the movie was so off-putting to fans is the presence of Creator/AdamSandler, whose films in the New Tens (most infamously ''Film/JackAndJill'' and ''Film/ThatsMyBoy'') had not exactly given him a positive reputation. Others felt the reliance on 80s games and/or references alienated both younger audiences (who wouldn't get said references) and older audiences (who are more likely to be familiar with the VideoGameMoviesSuck problem). The gamer stereotyping specified below didn't help.