Pixels review – game over for Adam Sandler (again)

Run as fast as you can from this sci-fi comedy about arcade-game addicts who must defend Earth against space invaders

Related: Adam Sandler: still scraping the bottom of the comedy barrel

After the awful Cobbler, Adam Sandler has defaulted to give-'em-what-they-want nostalgia: arcade-game addicts roused from schlubby middle age to take on space invaders who are zapping Earth into shiny, Capcom-like blocks. The latter creates an oddly pleasing effect, but it is the only one in a film that shills pop culture references and sexual politics - from Sandler's relentless negging of Michelle Monaghan to the state-sanctioned pimping out of Serena Williams. Any planet where president Kevin James retains greater voice than eerily mute first lady Jane Krakowski surely isn't worth defending.