Last weekend I watched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on DVD with my special lady. I had already seen this film twice in theaters. I hoped she would enjoy it and it sounded like she did.
Scott Pilgrim is based on a comic book series by Bryan Lee O'Malley. It is the story of a slacker in his mid twenties living in Toronto. He is the bassist of an indy rock band called Sex Ba Bomb. When the movie opens he is dating a Chinese high schooler named Knives Chow. Much to the chagrin of his band mates. He later meets (quite literally) the woman of his dreams. The technicolor haired Ramona. He begins his pursuit of Romona while stringing Knives along. There is of course one catch. In order to date Ramona Scott has to battle and defeat Romona's 7 Evil Ex's. That is to say a collection of Romona's past 7 lovers.
This film is a fan boy's wet dream. First off you have the fact that it is based on a comic book. Then add the director of Shawn of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Throw in the near ultimate "manic pixie dream girl" Mary Elizabeth Winstead (no disrespect meant towards Zooey Deschanel). Include a kick ass indy rock soundtrack, and for good measure structure the entire film in a typical video game format. Complete with about 100,000 video game references.
I was gaga over this film. It definitely has it's flaws, but I thought the pacing was perfectly furious. This film has the best editing of any picture I have seen year. The segways were inspired. Conceptionally the film was a masterpiece. I have seen a lot of movies that have the troupes of video games, but never a movie totally embracing video games to the point of once a character is killed off they disappear and coins drop on the floor. Then the director (Edgar Wright) and O'Mally had the irreverence to have their characters acknowledge this and pick up the change and even complain that it isn't enough for the bus ride home.
Michael Cera plays the title role of Scott Pilgrim. He is not far from his wheelhouse with this role. An insecure, duffus slacker. Winstead as Romona is good in her portrayal of a complicated character. The scene stealer in the film is Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells, Scott gay room mate. There weren't really any bad performances in the movie and there are a lot of small roles that are critical to the story.
The battle sequences do grow a little repetitive, but I thought they did a decent job of providing a special niche for each ex that set them apart. Brandon Routh was especially good as ex #3 with his vegan super powers. Jason Schartzman is the 7th and final ex. Pay attention and there is a very subtle Q-Bert reference in his battle scene.
This movie was a flow at the box office. I read online a reviewer that had 10 reasons that no one went to see Scott Pilgrim. His most interesting point was that "people over 30 don't want to listen to a 20 something sitting around whining about his problems and they can no longer relate to that slacker attitude. While it is a movie made for the early video game players so today's youth didn't understand the Mario Brothers and Zelda shout outs". I thought that was a very astute observation.
I have to say I loved this movie. The kinetic editing, the powerful soundtrack, Romona is sexy as hell and I have a bit of a man crush on Michael Cera. Like I said earlier this movie has it's fair share of flaws, but it has totally consumed me 3 times now I am looking forward to seeing it again. This movie along with Inception (review soon to come) might be enough to launch me into Blu Ray. I give Scott Pilgrim vs. the World 4/5 stars. Check out the trailer to see for yourself.
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