I was basically left saying what the hell while I laughed my way through this one. – Will
Scott Pilgrim is tasked with defeating the seven exes of Ramona, a girl he’s fallen in love with.
Directed by – Edgar Wright
Written by – Michael Bacall, Edgar Wright, Bryan Lee O’Malley
Starring – Michael Cera, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, Johnny Simmons, Ellen Wong, Kieran Culkin, Brie Larson, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ben Lewis, Nelson Franklin, Kristina Pesic, Ingrid Haas, Kerr Hewitt, Changelle Chung, Erik Knudsen, Maurie W. Kaufmann, Abigail Chu, Satya Bhabha, Chris Evans, Don McKellar, Emily Kassie, Mae Whitman, Tennessee Thomas, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman, Keita Saitou, Shota Saito, Clifton Collins Jr., Thomas Jane
Shame on me for waiting this long to see Scott Pilgrim. Set right in the heart of Toronto, as a Canadian I feel like I’ve broken some sort of law by not watching this movie. Bad Canadian, bad! This is just one of those movies that everyone in my house wanted to watch and getting us all in the same room at the same time can be a problem. Someone is too tired, a kid isn’t there that night or I’m too busy watching Sexy Singing Strippers From Saturn. Alright, that’s not a movie but you get the idea. We finally all sat down to watch Scott Pilgrim and we were all blown away, almost literally.
The plot is simple. Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is just a lonely loser after being dumped one year earlier by his girlfriend who is now in a famous rock band. Much more famous than Scott’s band of course. Scott begins dating a 17 year old high school student, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). He seems to be happy until he dreams of, and meets in real life, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). He quickly forgets all about Knives and begins dating Ramona. What he doesn’t know is that he’ll have to defeat her seven evil exes to win her heart.
The seven exes that stand in Scott's way.
I’ve never read the graphic novels so I really had no idea what I was getting into before watching this one. It wound up being one of the most out of control and over the top flicks I think I’ve ever seen. It makes absolutely no sense at all as the seven exes have all manner of super powers, including one with psychic abilities from being a vegan, and everyone fights in super slow motion with giant Batman sized BIFF’s and POW’s above their heads. It’s obviously a comic come to life and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more. Combining just about all of the things I love like rock music, comic book action and attractive women, Scott Pilgrim had me laughing my ass off.
Set and filmed in Toronto, we got to spend a lot of the movie screaming out ‘I’ve been there!’ or ‘Hey, that’s (insert name of place we’ve been to)’. It’s always fun to try and spot the places in a film that we recognize. Shots in Resident Evil movies or what bar in Toronto a certain shot happens in but it’s rare that a movie is openly in a city we live by. When I was in a band we actually played in some of the bars in the movie and quite a few shots take place just steps away from the Bloor Cinema where we enjoy Toronto After Dark every year.
Scott and the gang begin running into Ramona's exes.
While everyone does a great job in the movie, even Michael Cera who really grates on my nerves usually, it was Kieran Culkin as Scott’s friend Wallace who stole the show for me. I was busting a gut every time he was onscreen and next to all the over the top action he was my favorite part of the film. Speaking of action, it’s all so cartoony and right out of a comic book that it left me wondering what the hell was going on before I would just accept it and enjoy. You can’t approach a film like this seriously or you’re going to be very disappointed. I assume it’s as if the comic came to life which is all the more reason for me to finally read the comics!
Great music, bigger than life fight scenes that were much better done than I expected and some insane visuals made this a great flick. I only wish that I had actually watched it on the big screen because I can only imagine what it would have been like then. The only thing I wasn’t convince about was the ending. The DVD had an alternate ending that offered up what I was kind of hoping would happen but even after watching that I couldn’t decide which I liked more. It’s not that it let me down, I just really can’t decide how I wanted it all to turn out. A few moments also tend to be anti-climactic especially one moment towards the end that I was expecting to be really outrageous but instead ends with a whimper instead of a bang.
Despite a couple of moments that I wished had gone differently, I really enjoyed the flick. It was hilarious and way, way over the top when it needed to be and left me impressed. I also noticed it snowed, a lot, which only reminded me of living up in the Great White North even more. Somehow this should be required viewing for any comic loving Canadian out there.
Under the marquee – Will
This is a very enjoyable movie. Captured the feel of the graphic novels, imo. And I love how they managed to squeeze the entire books in one film and still make it awesome.
I’m trying to make it a point to find the books and read them, especially since there’s only 6 of them anyway! I’m interested to see how the two stack up against each other.
It’s a comic come to life and a video game come to life, which might provide more ammo for the camp arguing that video games are their own art form, but c’est la vie. The exes/bosses get tougher and tougher and gain more powers with each successive fight, and Scott has to gain the right power-ups and use the right strategy to beat them. It’s ludicrous, delightfully so, and it completely embraces the concept without any sense of self-consciousness. Which is precisely what’s necessary, because even a whiff of self-aware bashfulness could have tanked the whole thing.
Ultimately, for me, it’s a movie about cool fights and outstanding editing but also about growing up and rejecting a 20-something culture of apathy and fleeting, superficial interest in what’s “cool” in favor of something much more substantive and meaningful. For Scott, this is his chance to quit being such a slacker and a loser and get something out of life that actually matters.
I kind of forgot about the power ups which really throws the movie way over the top towards the ending. You’re right though man, there is a story under all that shiny film, it can be hard to see when you’re so dazzled by crazy fights and out of control effects!