Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Buy It Now: Amazon.com
Description: Meet charming and jobless Scott Pilgrim. A bass guitarist for garage band Sex Bob-Omb, the 22-year-old has just met the girl of his dreams – literally. The only catch to winning Ramona Flowers? Her seven evil exes are coming to kill him.
This review is based on a copy I bought.
LamoreVincera’s Review:
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World starts out with the classic Universal logo translated into 8-bit glory, and the timeless studio theme rendered into MIDI sound. If the idea of this does not make you laugh, chuckle, giggle, or squee in some fashion, you can just put the movie down. It isn’t for you.
The plot is cute, and somewhat nonsensical – a “normal” Toronto kid falls in love at first sight with Ramona Flowers, an American girl who’s just moved to the city. The twist is that she’s got seven evil exes who have formed a league, to “control the future of [her] love life”, and in order to really, truly date her, he’s got to defeat them all in one-on-one combat. Also, Scott Pilgrim, while presented as “normal”, isn’t. The movie doesn’t tell you this, but these evil exes are fighting the “best fighter in the province”. (I personally have not read the graphic novel series this movie is based on – a slight I intend to correct – but that’s what the source material says.)
That is actually my one, lonely criticism of the film – Scott Pilgrim is supposed to be a Badass Normal, and something of a ladykiller. He’s not the nicest of guys, which gets pointed out often. So who do they cast? Michael Cera. He’s okay, but… if you’ve seen one Michael Cera role, you’ve seen them all. He does “bumbling nice guy” very well, but doesn’t entirely seem to fill the role he signed up for. When Ramona decides “yeah, I’ll date you”, it doesn’t completely ring true. It’s not that Cera is a bad actor, just that, at the back of this reviewer’s mind, he didn’t completely fit. I will say that 1) opinions are like armpits (everyone has them and they all stink), and 2) he certainly gave it his all.
That being my only criticism, here are the good parts. And when this film is good, it’s mind-blowingly awesome (provided that you fit into the first paragraph’s intended audience.) The supporting cast is stellar; Mary Elizabeth Winstead is so winning that, hell, I’d want to date Ramona Flowers too. Scott’s fellow band members (“Sex Bob-Omb”, get it?) are both great, but Allison Pill steals scenes she’s in with her snarky, deadpan line delivery. Outdoing her – and that’s not easy – is Kieran Culkin as Scott’s gay roommate, who has some of the best lines in the movie and several of the best running gags.
The “league of evil exes” has a few notable members – Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, the upcoming Captain America) as Lucas Lee, the second evil ex and movie star. Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) as a popular band’s bassist and vegan with special powers; and Jason Schwartzman (Marie Antoinette, Freaks and Geeks) as her seventh ex. (I’d say more on him, but it’s a spoiler. Just know that you’ll enjoy him.) The performances are all hilarious.
The best part, though, are the hundreds of little gamer in-jokes that director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) has slipped in. Yeah, that’s the Zelda theme. Yes, he just grabbed a 1-up and essentially hit replay. Who knew playing Dance Dance Revolution like you mean it could give you such awesome fighting skills? Yep, you just heard the Sonic the Hedgehog music. And when the enemies die, they don’t bleed – they explode into coins, as it should be. If I were to recount all the little gaming shoutouts they’ve got here, this would be one hell of a long article. Half the fun of the movie is picking up on all the tiny little things that they’ve jammed in there.
Edgar Wright’s direction lends itself wonderfully to the half-graphic novel, half-movie setup. The cuts are quick, the special effects are awesome, and the fight scenes are meticulously choreographed. He obviously did his geeky homework – when he wrote the owners of the Zelda theme, he called it a “lullaby for this generation”. By his work on this movie, I’m guessing he is a geek, but if not – welcome to the club, man. You’re our honorary guest.
If you’ve ever had the “Where the hell does Link keep his sword?” conversation, or know the Final Fantasy battle riff, or have ever wanted to bash your head into a wall while playing Mega Man, this movie’s for you. Sure, if you can commiserate with the whole “wanting the girl of your dreams” setup, you might get some enjoyment out of it – but unless you are a true geek at heart, you won’t get the full impact. Chances are, if you’re on this site, you will. It’s highly recommended that you pick up a copy. You’ll need the repeated viewings!
I can’t get a version of this that doesn’t have embedding disabled, so if you want to see a piece of the movie – and its awesome music – go here. The song is “Black Sheep” by Metric, with vocals by Brie Larson.
LamoreVincera
LamoreVincera has been a geek chick since the third grade, when she discovered Star Wars, Luke Skywalker, and a penchant for blond-haired farm boys. She has a lifetime-long love of fantasy, sci-fi, history, and medicine, and is currently working on achieving her dream of becoming a midwife, as well as working on a novel. She can be contacted at LamoreVincera @ hotmail . com and followed on Twitter at the link below.
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