Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I think it's fair to say that when the opening Universal title sequence came up, every geek in the theater got a boner. Everything about Scott Pilgrim vs. the World screams nerd afrodisiac- from the comic book/ video game feel of the movie to the music, action, and even the gorgeous love interest.

The trailer for this film tells you pretty much all you need to know about this movie. Scott Pilgrim is your average 22 year old Canadian: he is an inessential member of a terrible indie rock band, he shares a tiny, one room apartment with his gay roomate, and is dating a 17 year old high school girl. The whole "dating a 17 year old high school girl" thing doesn't last for long after he meets the girl of his dreams (literally) at a party. Scott can barely speak to her, but is willing to fight each of her seven evil exes in mortal combat like death matches in order to be with her.

With a runtime of almost two hours, this movie makes you kind of wish that Ramona (the goregous love interest) had five evil exes instead of seven. Michael Cera spends too much of his time putting fist to face and not enough time growing into his character. If the ominous, narrating voice from nowhere hadn't told us towards the end of the movie, "Scott has earned the power of love!" or, "Scott has earned the power of self-respect!", we wouldn't be any the wiser.

This movie really solidifies the theory that Michael Cera doesn't have much range. This movie probably would have captured people's attention more had there been a different lead. Thank God we have Edgar Wright. Wright really knows his stories and knows how to tell them well. He is good at paying tribute to classic film genres in a very inventive and entertaining ways (see Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz). Wright brings his talents to this film, making sense where sense probably doesn't belong. Wright sets everything "right" (Haha).

As I said, this movie is based off a series of graphic novels (I wish people would just call them comic books), written by Bryan Lee O'Mally, but it runs more like it is based of a video game. The establishing shot of Scott's apartment that opens the movie looks like it jumped straight out of a comic book and the little graphics that appear everytime somebody gets hit are about it in terms of this movie running like a comic book. Everyting else, especially the action sequences, feels more like an old, 80's arcade game.

Despite its length and Michael Cera problems, this film is actually entertaining. The semi-hilarious script cupped with a young and vibrant cast gives this movie a kind of charm that is hard for us new millenials to resist.

See this film.