Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)

I wanted so much to love every single thing about this film...and to a point I do. To a point. I've only just recently watched director Edgar Wright's previous films (by "recently", I mean at the beginning of this year), and had gone through artist Bryan Lee O'Malley's 6-volume series several times before this film premiered, and had been building up hope upon hope with every frame of footage and bit of news that was released. I had even gone to a Q&A with the cast and director a few days before the release up in New York. And this film has so much going for it, so much charm, so much energy...but it just barely trips at the finish line. Don't get me wrong, I love this film to death (I did catch it twice in theaters), but it didn't deliver what I had hoped it would.

The plot, in case you don't know, involves title character Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), a 23-year-old slacker living with a gay roommate, Wallace Wells (the incredibly likable and funny Kieran Culkin), who plays in a garage band trying to make it big called Sex Bob-Bomb. He has just gotten together with Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), a 17-year-old who idolizes him, and has very little prospects of ever actually growing up (or getting a job for that matter). However, when he meets the literal girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), he forgets about Knives entirely, and focuses on winning Ramona's heart...which involves defeating her seven exes in various, fantasy-themed forms of combat. I know, reading that, it sounds kinda stupid. IT IS NOT. The film is fashioned after the side-scrolling video games of the late 1980's, early-1990's (complete with special moves, scoreboard, Double-Dragon-type twins, extra lives, and villains who turn into coins when they're defeated), each ex being defeated in decidedly different fashions and with different abilities. The film is rife is pop culture references, a trend in film-making that has become so common that it has spawned a new genre: Meta Films.

However, back to the movie...

The movie is great, a fun, energetic, fast-paced, visually amazing film with a lot to please fans of the comic, Edgar Wright, and fans of pop culture. However, there are some glaring flaws that keep it from greatness, the biggest of which is its lead actor.

Michael Cera, while presumably the most bankable star, is miscast. Scott Pilgrim, the character, is a slacker, yes, but he's also amazingly excitable, and not as sedate and seemingly laid-back as Cera portrays him. As much as I'd wanted to believe otherwise, this is very much "Michael Cera playing Michael Cera...with flaming swords"; that opinion became much more apparent on a second viewing. However, again, Cera is the most bankable star, and would be the only real recognizable face used to sell the film (although this apparently backfired). Had production waited a few years, I might even be able to envision Jimmy Bennett in the role...if only he weren't 14.

However, the rest of the cast fares incredibly well. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is incredibly attractive, although she seems entirely too cool for the likes of Scott, or any of his friends for that matter (sometimes her hairpiece got a bit distracting too), but otherwise she nailed the role and seemed more than capable in her action scenes. The supporting players more than embodied their roles, at times looking literally like the character as drawn (such as with Marc Webber, Brandon Routh, Aubrey Plaza, and Kieran Culkin). And, speaking of Kieran Culkin, every scene that man was in he owned, hands down; from the comic timing to the staging to the editing choices (I know, it wasn't Kieran's decisions, but still), he ruled every scene in which he appeared. Allison Pill as Kim Pine, however, seemed to actively hate Scott and everything he did so much that it seemed slightly unlikely that she and he would remain friends (although that is tied up nicely by the end of the film). Ellen Wong, for her part, plays the enamored, enraptured high-school-fake-girlfriend very well, just bordering on being annoying, but never crossing that border; the look of heartbreak when Scott breaks up with her seems genuine, and one can't help but feel sorry for her. Of the changes between the comic and the film, her resolution with Scott helps make her transformation into a more mature person that much believable.

Now...the changes from the comic...

Adapting an extensive, dense work such as this would have been difficult for any lesser director, but Edgar Wright accomplishes it impressively (but not flawlessly). One of the major problems of the film (and, to an extent, the comics themselves) is that there is no real explanation as to what it is that makes Ramona so special: she appears in Scott's dreams, plays mysterious in regards to her past, and dresses like the alt-hipster that she appears to be. The core components that make her unique and special when compared to the other characters is hinted at in the comics, but in the film she merely appears and Scott is smitten immediately. While it doesn't make her any less of character, it did slightly annoy me that I couldn't really see exactly what it was that Scott saw in her (and the fact that she became dismissive of him much more quickly in the film than in the comics made her seem incredibly fickle).

The time line in the film rushed several plot threads together into a single night (the film goes from Scott fighting Roxy to facing the Kataynagi Twins seemingly the next day; the Clash At Demonhead is introduced and Kyle defeated within the same night). The beauty and fun of the comic series is the time taken to get to know each character, know who they are, their history, their relation to each other, and so forth. The subplots broadened the fantasy world, legitimizing it by creating situations to which the reader could relate, and enriched the minor characters (although Stephen Stills' transformation in the comic seemed somewhat trite). In comparison, the film made the same mistake the final book in the series seemed to make: it focused purely and solely on Scott and on the fights he had to undergo to win Ramona. Again, with someone who is moderately uncharismatic as Cera in the lead, focusing purely on his relationship with Ramona, who is fascinating for reasons not purely explained, relegates every other character to second-tier status and makes Ramona little more than a trophy for him to earn. Knives Chau and even Gideon Graves were more charismatic and interesting to watch.

It might seem as if I'm ragging on this film, but I genuinely do like it and know that it will be a constant rewatch. From the non-stop pop culture references (from the Seinfeld theme drop; the bad guys turning into coins when they're killed...and they ARE killed...to the use of the Zelda theme, the outright kineticism, speed, tone, power-ups...EVERYTHING!), to the visual gags, the set design, the incredible lighting, editing techniques...COMPLETE LACK OF CUTS LESS THAN 2 SECONDS IN LENGTH...everything is fun. Absolutely fun. And the charm and fun of this film is what makes it so great, so memorable, so excitingly alive. No other film this year is so in love with itself (in a good way) and so charming and sincere that it trumps its flaws.

Is this the best film ever made? No. Is it fun? Yes. Is it exciting? Yes, once you get its central conceit. Is it underrated? For the time being, but, in years, it will become a cult film, I can sense it. Is it worth watching? YES. Absolutely yes. It's so hard to get excited with modern action films when "angst" and "gritty" is supposed to equate "sincerity" and "excitement". Here, Scott Pilgrim is gaily wailing on bad guys with a flaming sword conjured out of pure love, to a rocking soundtrack by Beck, and he's doing it in broad daylight and enjoying every minute of it. I sat down expecting to love this film, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a relief to know that cinema-going can be fun again. "Continue?" Yes, of course...