Get ready all you geeks and geek wannabes -- Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. The World arrives in theaters with a grandiose graphic novel "WHAM!" -- and it's the most mind-bending hipster obsessive delight since Baz Luhrmann turned Moulin Rouge into a Nirvana-spouting, synapse-shocking spectacle. After such masterful spoofs as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, this brilliant British filmmaker has crafted an eye candy treat that's deceptively sweet, heady in its visual aplomb and gimmicky "wow" factor.
But be forewarned: this is a movie so ensconced in its own unique, insular universe of fanboy irony and indie rock revivalism that if you don't immediately sync up with its sublime, subversive style, you'll definitely be left way out on the film fringes. Wright's wild approach is destined to be the source of some intriguing "love it or loathe it" debates. From this curmudgeonly critic's point of view, it stands as one of 2010's very best.
Our hero (Michael Cera) is 23, Canadian, somewhat talented, and dating a 17-year-old high school girl. The members of Sex Bob-omb, his god-awful garage band -- Stephen Stills (Mark Webber), Kim Pine (Alison Pill), and "Young" Neil Nordegraf (Johnny Simmons) -- think he's a loser for going adolescent. So does his sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick), gay roommate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin), and coffee shop busybody Julie (Aubrey Plaza). For Scott, his relationship with Knives (Ellen Wong) is not just a novelty -- it's necessary. He's trying to get over a bad break-up, one in which his overbearing ex, "Envy" Adams (Brie Larson), left him to become a huge pop star -- and she did.
At a party before a local Battle of the Bands, Scott meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the punk-haired perfect girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, she comes with some pretty substantial baggage -- seven ex-boyfriends that Scott must "defeat" in order to date her. They are a bizarre variety of past flings, including school flame Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), action star/skateboarder Lucas Lee (Chris Evans), and famous Vegan rocker Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh). Perhaps the most evil of all the former flames is Gideon Gordon Graves (Jason Schwartzman), a record executive who holds the key to Sex Bob-omb's possible success...and Ramona's fickle heart.
From the moment the 8-bit graphics logo for Universal scrawls across the screen, accompanied by a soundtrack straight out of a Nintendo 64 cartridge, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World announces its brilliantly skewed view of love and life. This is a movie made for gamers, inspired by its joystick junkie universe. While he's basically making a RomCom -- albeit one dredged in the same idiosyncratic mannerisms of last year's equally effective (500) Days of Summer -- Wright's eye-popping use of the medium is beyond measure. It'll no doubt infuriate older members of the audience. But with its clever combination of slacker cool and Colecovision, its numerous allusions and cinematic riffs, Scott Pilgrim is like revisiting the last 50 years of moviemaking in a Sega Genesis package.
Wright's references are genius, from Bollywood to '80s action bombast, hero histrionics and latter day martial artistry. His camera is fluid, framing the scenes like panels out of the Bryan Lee O'Malley graphic novel on which the tale is based. Even better, he accents each moment with little post-production tchotchkes, gimmicks like cartoon balloon sound effects and CG lightning bolts that amplify and explain the onscreen emotions. Don't be fooled by all the flash, however. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a heartfelt romance, Cera and Winstead making a winning, wounded couple trying to find their way in the complicated multimedia universe of post-modern relationships. The rest of the cast is equally adept at turning their metaphorical presence into something real and recognizable.
Still, it's easy to feel out of step here. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World definitely speaks its own language, bravely asking you to collaborate in the eventual translation. Whether you decide to decipher it or not may be a matter of maturity, but the end results are truly addictive -- and quite amazing.
But be forewarned: this is a movie so ensconced in its own unique, insular universe of fanboy irony and indie rock revivalism that if you don't immediately sync up with its sublime, subversive style, you'll definitely be left way out on the film fringes. Wright's wild approach is destined to be the source of some intriguing "love it or loathe it" debates. From this curmudgeonly critic's point of view, it stands as one of 2010's very best.
Our hero (Michael Cera) is 23, Canadian, somewhat talented, and dating a 17-year-old high school girl. The members of Sex Bob-omb, his god-awful garage band -- Stephen Stills (Mark Webber), Kim Pine (Alison Pill), and "Young" Neil Nordegraf (Johnny Simmons) -- think he's a loser for going adolescent. So does his sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick), gay roommate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin), and coffee shop busybody Julie (Aubrey Plaza). For Scott, his relationship with Knives (Ellen Wong) is not just a novelty -- it's necessary. He's trying to get over a bad break-up, one in which his overbearing ex, "Envy" Adams (Brie Larson), left him to become a huge pop star -- and she did.
At a party before a local Battle of the Bands, Scott meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the punk-haired perfect girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, she comes with some pretty substantial baggage -- seven ex-boyfriends that Scott must "defeat" in order to date her. They are a bizarre variety of past flings, including school flame Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), action star/skateboarder Lucas Lee (Chris Evans), and famous Vegan rocker Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh). Perhaps the most evil of all the former flames is Gideon Gordon Graves (Jason Schwartzman), a record executive who holds the key to Sex Bob-omb's possible success...and Ramona's fickle heart.
From the moment the 8-bit graphics logo for Universal scrawls across the screen, accompanied by a soundtrack straight out of a Nintendo 64 cartridge, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World announces its brilliantly skewed view of love and life. This is a movie made for gamers, inspired by its joystick junkie universe. While he's basically making a RomCom -- albeit one dredged in the same idiosyncratic mannerisms of last year's equally effective (500) Days of Summer -- Wright's eye-popping use of the medium is beyond measure. It'll no doubt infuriate older members of the audience. But with its clever combination of slacker cool and Colecovision, its numerous allusions and cinematic riffs, Scott Pilgrim is like revisiting the last 50 years of moviemaking in a Sega Genesis package.
Wright's references are genius, from Bollywood to '80s action bombast, hero histrionics and latter day martial artistry. His camera is fluid, framing the scenes like panels out of the Bryan Lee O'Malley graphic novel on which the tale is based. Even better, he accents each moment with little post-production tchotchkes, gimmicks like cartoon balloon sound effects and CG lightning bolts that amplify and explain the onscreen emotions. Don't be fooled by all the flash, however. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a heartfelt romance, Cera and Winstead making a winning, wounded couple trying to find their way in the complicated multimedia universe of post-modern relationships. The rest of the cast is equally adept at turning their metaphorical presence into something real and recognizable.
Still, it's easy to feel out of step here. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World definitely speaks its own language, bravely asking you to collaborate in the eventual translation. Whether you decide to decipher it or not may be a matter of maturity, but the end results are truly addictive -- and quite amazing.
