Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World

*****
Five Stars Out of Five

Every year summer rolls along and I spend much of my free time at the local cineplex - is that what you kids say these days? - and every summer I find I'm generally disappointed with most of what I see. I tend to only watch movies I know I'll like, and even the movies I do like often times fall much more flat than I imagine them to be in my mind. Sure, there are plenty of exceptions to that rule; Inception certainly comes to mind, as does Inglourious Basterds from last summer, and The Dark Knight the one before that. However, for every Inception there are five or six Iron Man 2's - you know, movies that aren't all that bad, but don't really live up to the hype you have built up for your head over the span of months of picking apart every trailer and TV spot you see. And then there are types of movies that you see previews for and are indifferent to. I call them "Meh" trailers, as they could go either way, and they're not on your must-see list. More often than not, I ignore those "Meh" movies and instead save my money (what little I have). Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World was certainly a "Meh" trailer, and even though I read and thoroughly enjoyed the graphic novels the film is based on and I absolutely love everything director Edgar Wright touches (I prefer his BBC show "Spaced" over the UK "The Office"), the trailer didn't exactly make me explode with excitement. So, on a whim Friday night, I decided to myself, "Fuck it, go see the movie or watch reruns of "Locked Up" on MSNBC." I am supremely glad I decided to go to this movie.

Let me preface this review by stating that I am the target audience for this movie: I'm a twenty-something kid (that's right, kid, not an adult; sorry, mom, I'm just not ready to move along yet) who recently had his heart broken and is struggling with getting older and taking on more adult responsibilities. I want the best of both worlds: I want to be able to buy booze, smoke cigarettes, and have all kinds of sexy sex without having to worry about adult issues like bills (so... many... bills), "personal accountability," or STD's. Much like the eponymous character of the movie, I'm a little boy stuck in an adult body. Beyond that, I was raised on pop culture; you know, video games (I fucking loved me some Sega Genesis, bitches), movies, music, and television. To take the bizarro similarities even one step further, I played bass in a band much like Mr. Pilgrim does in the movie. Christ, I feel like I might even be Scott Pilgrim... But I think that's part of the movie's charm: you relate to the characters, and you feel like it could be you in those shoes, even if what unfolds before you is so goddamn ridiculous.

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a pretty aimless 22 year-old Canadian who currently started dating 17 year-old Knives Chau (an adorable Ellen Wong). Scott's had a rough go of things lately: he shares a bed with his gay roommate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin, Macaulay's little brother) in their no-bedroom apartment, he recently got dumped by longtime girlfriend Nat who went on to form an insanely successful band, and he's playing bass in a struggling local band called Sex Bob-bomb (a great reference to those pesky bombs from the "Mario" franchise). His relationship with Knives is pretty harmless - they don't even hold hands, and they spend the majority of their relationship together at the record store or riding the bus - and it's clear that he's using her as a stepping stone to getting over his ex-girlfriend. But then Scott meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who is probably my biggest Hollywood crush now), literally - she uses a subspace highway that passes through Scott's dreams in order to more quickly deliver goods for Amazon. He harasses her into going out on a date with him, and before they know it, they've entered into a relationship with one another. There's a catch, though. In order to continue dating Ramona, Scott has to defeat her Seven Evil Exes in battle. Scott's life starts to fall apart around him as he has to fight outrageous battles against douchey exes.

It's a pretty basic plot, but it's delivered in such a uniquely fantastical way that it works incredibly well. Edgar Wright has made such a loving flick to late 80's/early 90's video games and arrested development that it's clear that he and the cast had a blast making this flick. I wondered how Wright would handle the more fantastic portions of the film since he's dealt with smaller budgets in the past - Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, two of my favorite comedies ever were not expensive projects, but still fucking rocked - but he proved more than capable of using his genius in excellent fashion. The fight scenes are superbly choreographed and he sprinkles little gaming nuggets throughout, like boss battles with life bars, characters blinking red when they're on the verge of death (thanks, Zelda!), and defeated opponents exploding into coins. It's off-the-wall and unbelievable, but it works. Better than it should, as a matter of fact. I think part of the experience is how nonchalantly everyone handles it; the characters all act as if the occurrences are common-place, and that adds tremendously to the comedy. The film really could have faltered if the characters knowingly winked at what was unfolding on-screen, but instead Wright opts to play it straight.

The acting across the board is excellent, too. I don't know why I like Michael Cera, but I do. He's the exact type of actor I should hate, but I can't. He's quirky and awkward, but unlike Jesse Eisenberg, he makes it work for himself. He's almost always the clueless, underdeveloped kid in movies, but he shines here. Scott is a big of an egotistical prick who doesn't understand that his actions hurt others, and it's nice to see Cera act less like a humbled turd and instead a slacker who doesn't care if he hurts anyone around him. It makes his progress as a character more relatable and interesting. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is great as Ramona - she plays the character with just the right amount of distance and aloofness. It's a slippery slope to play a character like Ramona, because she could just as easily been a character most people hate, but she is totally believable as the girl Scott's crushing on. Kieran Culkin is hysterical as Wallace Wells, and Ellen Wong is just so damn cute as Knives Chau that you can't help but root for her. All of the evil exes are brilliant, too, with the highlight definitely belong to Brandon Routh's vegan-powered Todd Ingram. It's been interesting to watch Routh grow as an actor since he portrayed Superman, and he is so good here that I hope he somehow makes it back into the red and blue some day. A special mention must go out to Jason Schwartzmann as Gideon Graves, as he is such a tremendous douche that you can't help but love hating the guy. Schwartzmann has always oozed a certain douchiness, and he embraces it here to be the douchiest douce in Doucheville.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World is a movie that was made for my generation: the man-children who struggle with growing up and leaving behind the great things that made our youth so memorable. The movie embraces it's retro-vibes and keeps the laughs and action coming at a breakneck pace. I can't get over how much I loved this movie, and I think a lot of it has to do with how perfectly it encapsulates the inherent silliness of growing up and falling in love. It's a movie I will probably show my kids some day in the future when they ask what it was like to be younger. They won't get it. And neither will a lot of other people. But that's the point: the movie wasn't made for anyone else. It was made for me and people like me. Congratulations, Mr. Wright. You've done it again.