Review: Scott Pilgrim vs The World

[edit the sad parts]

Originally, I had little to no interest in seeing this movie at all. I was getting tired of Michael Cera's type-cast quiet, geeky, yet lovable roles and I thought I would dislike the way it is highly stylized. Also, I was not familiar with the graphic novels that the movie is based on. Needless to say, I went in with extreme bias. Add to that, I went on a matinee so the theatre was packed full of obnoxious people, and I just did not want to be there.

Within the first ten minutes, my opinion completely changed. The movie was really funny, charming, and neat. The graphics used from old nintendo games made me feel nostalgic, and really added to the film's unique style. It was also really cool to see a film that was not only filmed in Toronto, but exclusively set there as well. Also, the soundtrack had some awesome tracks on it and it was well coordinated with the movie.

It follows the story of Scott Pilgrim, 23, and his unrelenting crush on a new girl in town, Ramona Flowers. Scott is a bit of a loser. He shares a bachelor apartment with his amusing gay roommate, is in an unsigned indie band. Sex Bob-Omb, and he plays video games all day with his high school "girlfriend"(they hold hands). Scott decides that Ramona is cool enough to risk everything for, and summons the courage to try to date her. After a bunch of muddled attempts to ask her out, Ramona finally says yes, and things seem to be going swell. Unfortunately for Scott, though, Ramona has neglected to mention that he must battle and defeat all of her seven evil exes if he wants to keep dating her.

The fight scenes are fun, but a bit jarring and very loud. By the last one, you are glad that there are no more... but it is perfectly timed.

I give this movie: / . If you are in the mood for something light, funny, and interesting to look at, I would recommend this movie.

[GlassBallerina]

I really enjoyed this movie too! I didn't read the novels or even know about it until I saw previews for it, and the previews actually struck me as strange/I didn't get the point, but I heard it was good so I dragged my brother to it. It totally ended up being a movie with our sense of humor playing a huge role, and we both loved the gaming aspect (we both still play Pokemon together, me being 19 and him 22, haha). Plus, Scott Pilgrim's character felt genuine - he made mistakes and learned from them, then took the high road. Plus, he is totally adorable. And the funny/clever quotes from this movie are endless.

[Chococat]

I would typically be all over this movie, but I really don't like Michael Cera. He doesn't act, he just plays Michael Cera in all of his movies.

[monkeypoop]

This review is actually making me consider seeing it. I agree with the Michael Cera typecast roles getting kind of old, as well as not being familiar with the comics. When I saw previews for the movie, it seemed like the kind of thing that would be significantly better for people who were fans of the comics before they made a movie. Hearing such good things about it from someone coming from a similar place kind of makes me want to give it a chance, though.

[Mathmo]

I was pretty excited about this movie coming out, but didn't like it as much as I thought I would. It was pretty good, but I felt like they could've made each fight scene 2/3 of its length. It worked well as a "look! The fight scenes are just like the fight scenes in video games, with cool tricks and stuff!" thing but OTOH I think fight scenes in video games get pretty boring to watch quite quickly.

I know that there will be lots of in-jokes and things that I missed, though - from friends' comments and because I don't play games really so only got really obvious references - so it's probably a lot cooler if you get all of those! And I really liked Knives and Ramona (I didn't find Scott lovable, but I could see why they did). For me it was a pretty good movie, but not a compelling one - but if you know more about games than me / like video game fight scenes more than me, it would probably be really good.

[A.K.A. Z]

I would typically be all over this movie, but I really don't like Michael Cera. He doesn't act, he just plays Michael Cera in all of his movies.

This. 1000 times this. It was almost funny in Arrested Development. Almost. After that it was like watching a kid on crutches try to play soccer.

[Sonic#]

I would typically be all over this movie, but I really don't like Michael Cera. He doesn't act, he just plays Michael Cera in all of his movies.

The thing is, I've heard people say precisely this, see the movie, and recant.

Yes, Michael Cera is a character actor. You can dislike the character. Or even the character being used too often. I guess you can dislike what you like, but it rubs me wrong when character and actor are conflated. He's a character actor. There just isn't going to be much range... unless he takes a role that demands it. Then we'll see whether he can do anything else.

That being said, I think he was best on Arrested Development. He's been fine in movies, and perhaps second best in this one.

[A.K.A. Z]

Yes, Michael Cera is a character actor. You can dislike the character. Or even the character being used too often. I guess you can dislike what you like, but it rubs me wrong when character and actor are conflated. He's a character actor. There just isn't going to be much range... unless he takes a role that demands it.

Some character actors are better than others, too, and it's easy to judge merits of what they do based upon their range and abilities. He'll have to pull off some serious fucking Jim-Carrey-in-Eternal-Sunshine-level roles to convince me he's nothing more than a lucky bastard.

[Butterfly North]

I love love loved this. I think if you have any interest in cinema it needs to be seen purely for the direction - Edgar Wright has always been incredibly inventive but this was the perfect vehicle for it. There are so many gags that rely totally on visuals and direction, it makes it really unique. It reminded me a lot of Spaced, which was the nineties British sitcom which made his and and Simon Pegg's name and what got them the funding for bigger films like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

If you liked this and haven't seen Spaced, download it now. It's the cheapest of the cheap. It's cheap even for a British sitcom, and those are notoriously shoestring-amateur looking, but it's still amazing because of the script and direction.

[DWH]

This movie made my geeky little heart so happy. It's also an impressively good adaptation of the comics- most people trying to cram six volumes of comic into a two hour movie would have made such an unbearable hack job of it that it would be barely watchable, but he managed to distill the plot down to its essentials and make a story that not only makes sense, but is very true to the source material.

I mean, I'll be honest. The moment the Universal theme started playing in 8 bits, I started bouncing in my seat and clapping. This movie caters to my interests and sense of humour. It really is a fantastic bit of film, so I definitely recommend seeing it.

[edit the sad parts]

I mean, I'll be honest. The moment the Universal theme started playing in 8 bits, I started bouncing in my seat and clapping.

Hell yeah.