Scott Pilgrim vs. The World Review
The world was not ready for Scott Pilgrim, and I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive it for that. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World came out the summer before my senior year of high school, though I’ll ask you to refrain from doing the math, because it makes me sad. What else makes me sad is that despite my strong feelings that this was one of the greatest films I had ever seen, it bombed at the box office, not even recouping its budget. It’s been gaining cult classic status for a while, but those wounds still haven’t healed. So, here’s the deal.
The film is based on a popular series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley an stars Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim. Scott is objectively a loser. He’s twenty-two, he’s in a lousy band, he lives in a crappy apartment, and for reasons unfathomable to those closest to him, he’s dating a high-schooler. Then Scott meets Ramona Flowers and suddenly he has to fight for this new relationship… literally. Ramona’s seven evil exes challenge any of her new partners, and that leaves Scott in the crossfire.
Weird plot set up, for sure. But what that summary can’t tell you is just how much this film dazzles. Since the graphic novels were heavily inspired by video games and anime, director Edgar Wright packs every frame of the film with bright, arcade-y effects, captions, rapid-fire physical comedy, and fight scenes that would justify the movie all by themselves. When the opening credits roll and kick off the soundtrack with a visual explosion, you know you’re in for a good time.
The movie looks and sounds unlike anything else. But let’s get back to that story. If you’ve ever been disappointed that a Harry Potter movie left out your favorite scene, you should know that this 107 minute long film had to adapt 6 books, one of which wasn’t even out yet when the film was being made. So the movie does have a lot riding on its shoulders. It does, inevitably, stumble. While the comics tears apart the idea that Ramona rollerblades into Scott’s life as though she exists to give it meaning over the course of several books, the film has a harder time fighting that idea, though Mary Elizabeth Winstead does work hard to give Ramona depth in scenes where Ramona deals with her conflicted relationship with her own past.
The film (and series’) main focus is on what it’s like to grow up late: most of the cast is in their twenties but still stuck in their past hobbies, relationships, jobs, and just about everything else. And after MANY repeated viewings, I’ve noticed how the film simplifies or removes adult problems that the books took time to address, and how that muddies the focus of what real growing up looks like. Special mention goes to “Nega-Scott,” who in the books is an avatar of Scott’s unwillingness to look at his own mistakes, but in the film is “a pretty cool dude.”
I’m older than Scott now, and I see the flaws in this movie a lot better than I did back in high school. But hey. You can love something, flaws and all. In adapting hundreds of pages into barely one hundred minutes, the film does work magic in helping Scott confront his crappier behavior, stand up for what he cares about, and in his own words, “get a life.” And it’s still a hell of a thrill to watch.
4 evil exes out of 5. Check it out on Netflix.