History YMMV / Pixels

* RootingForTheEmpire: Why wouldn't you want to root for an alien race that brings your childhood favorite video game characters to life? The cool visuals, and the fact that they're fighting a group of annoying humans led by Creator/AdamSandler, also helps.

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

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Many reviews remarked that the premise (while rather nonsensical) could have made for a fun movie with the MST3KMantra in full effect. Instead, the film never really ''does'' much with the characters.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Ludlow is supposed to be a 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 for once]] and an unstable, pathetic lunatic at worst. His crush on Lady Lisa is also meant to be seen as the latter being his OneTrueLove; his actual behavior is more in the ballpark of LoonyFan with PerverseSexualLust, something the movie itself jokes about briefly. [[spoiler:Not to mention that he gets to have said heroine come to life and fall in love with him for no reason; Q*bert then transforms into her just to give him a happy ending. Again, it is so [[{{Glurge}} insufferable and disturbing to think about]] that Sam ''points it out''.]]

* 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. The lack of appeal towards a family audience of parents who know better are likely major contributions to the BoxOfficeBomb failure the film suffered.
* 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 charismatic individual to hold office.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Ludlow is 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 for once]] and an unstable, pathetic lunatic at worst. His crush on Lady Lisa is also meant to be seen as the latter being his OneTrueLove; his actual behavior is more in the ballpark of LoonyFan with PerverseSexualLust, something the movie itself jokes about briefly. [[spoiler:Not to mention that he gets to have said heroine come to life and fall in love with him for no reason; Q*bert then transforms into her just to give him a happy ending. Again, it is so [[{{Glurge}} insufferable and disturbing to think about]] that Sam ''points it out''.]]

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Ludlow is 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 for once]] and an unstable, pathetic lunatic at worst. His crush on Lady Lisa is also meant to be seen as the latter being his OneTrueLove; his actual behavior is more in the ballpark of a LoonyFan with PerverseSexualLust, something the movie itself jokes about briefly. [[spoiler:Not to mention that he gets to have said heroine come to life and fall in love with him for no reason; Q*bert then transforms into her just to give him a happy ending. Again, it is so [[{{Glurge}} insufferable and disturbing to think about]] that Sam ''points it out''.]]

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 for 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''.]]

* 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 for 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''.]]

* UncertainAudience: Meshing the low-brow comedy of Creator/AdamSandler and relying on 80s games and/or references is not a combination with wide appeal; gamers wouldn't like the low-effort jokes or appreciate how they are stereotyped as losers and archetypal [[BasementDweller basement dwellers]]. Fans of 80s games specifically would generally be far too old to have any interest in the film's style of story, and fans of the low-brow Adam Sandler style of humor would be alienated by not getting references to the various 80s games from before their time. Additionally, the script dismissing modern video games and highlighting arcade games from TheEighties as the pinnacle would earn the ire of gamers who would have believed the film was about celebrating where video games got their start, not showcasing that time as 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 novels, especially when out of all examples used for "meaningless modern games", ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' has been acclaimed as a masterpiece by critics and players for its cinematic storytelling and presentation.

* UncertainAudience: Meshing the low-brow comedy of Creator/AdamSandler and relying on 80s games and/or references is not a combination with a wide appeal; gamers wouldn't like the low-effort jokes or appreciate how they are stereotyped as losers and archetypal [[BasementDweller basement dwellers]]. Fans of 80s games specifically would generally be far too old to have any interest in the film's style of story, and fans of the low-brow Adam Sandler style brand of humor would be alienated by not getting references to the various 80s games from before their time. Additionally, the script dismissing modern video games and highlighting arcade games from TheEighties as the pinnacle would earn the ire of gamers who would have believed the film was about celebrating where video games got their 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 novels, 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.

* UncertainAudience: Meshing the low-brow comedy of Creator/AdamSandler and relying on 80s games and/or references is not a combination with a wide appeal--gamers wouldn't like the low-effort jokes or appreciate how they are stereotyped as losers and archetypal [[BasementDweller basement dwellers]], fans of 80s games specifically would generally be far too old to have any interest in the film's style of story, and fans of the low brow Adam Sandler style brand of humor would be alienated by not getting the references to the various 80s games from before their time. Additionally, the script dismissing modern video games and highlighting arcade games from TheEighties as the pinnacle would earn the ire of gamers who would have 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.

* ClicheStorm: The film contains the worst of the Creator/AdamSandler movie tropes, such as the quirky LoserProtagonist that society thinks will amount to nothing, TheBully who puts him down and a WillTheyOrWontThey subplot. If you're familiar with any of his past films, you could predict where every plot point would go long before it resolves itself in-story.