Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

(2010)

Directed by

Edgar Wright

Review by Terry Plucknett

Posted - 8/18/10

I often say that recycled storylines and plot points do not ruin movies just because they were not completely original.  This is for several reasons.  First, if you have a good storyline and plot, it can be successfully explored in different settings and still be high quality.  Second, rarely anymore do you find something that is completely original and fresh.  When you do find something completely original and fresh, it is such a breath of fresh air.  Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is one of these breaths of fresh air.

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a 22 year old kid wandering through life, playing in a band, and trying to find a purpose for his life.  Then he finds it, a mysterious girl named Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).  He starts to date her and win her heart when he is randomly attacked by a boy named Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), an ex-boyfriend of Ramona.  He soon finds out that in order to stay with Ramona, he has to fight off her “Seven Evil Exes” (Bhabha, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Brie Larson, Keita Saitou, Shota Saito, Jason Schwartzman).  These fights randomly surface throughout the movie.  That is the basic premise behind the film.

What makes this film so original is the way in which the story is told.  It is told in a way I have never seen and have had trouble describing.  The best description I could come up with is if The Big Lebowski were a romantic teen comedy that was made into a video game, then it might look something like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.  This film was based on a graphic novel, and it shows in its disjointed and almost ADD-tendency shooting style.  There are random cutaway scenes that have nothing to do with the scenes before or after that can only be described as “Lebowskian.”  The most entertaining feature of the film is the obvious fact that this film is a tribute to 90’s arcade video games.  From the opening credits when it digitalizes the Universal Studios opening sequence to the point where it looked like it belonged on a Super Nintendo to the Street Fighter or Tekken-like battle intro to each fight with an evil ex to defeated exes exploding into a mound of coins, Scott Pilgrim pays homage to countless amounts of video games that makes a child of the 90’s like me smile and become very nostalgic.

On top of these brilliant stylistic choices in the way the film is made, the performances by the actors were spot on.  Michael Cera gives the best performance I have seen from him to date as the title character.  Also, as is true with all Edgar Wright films, all supporting characters are written into strict stereotypes to the point of great comedy.  This is shown here through Kieran Culkin’s gay roommate, Evans’s brainless action movie star, and Anna Kendrick’s gossip queen high schooler.  All these supporting characters give perfect performances for their specific roles.

Overall, Scott Pilgrim produced one of the most entertaining movie-going experiences I have had in some time.  It is random like The Big Lebowski, it is irreverent and stereotypical like Grindhouse or Hot Fuzz, and it is entertaining in a nostalgic way like Toy Story 3.  It reminds me of so many films, yet is nothing like any film I have ever seen at the same time.  It truly is something completely original and a huge breath of fresh air amongst the remakes and recycled storylines of today’s movies.

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