Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)
I’ve dabbled in being a b*tch.
THE SUMMARY: A nerdy loser has to fight seven exes of some pink-haired chick to win her courtship in a unique combination of rom-com and superhero action. It’s different, and memorable, but not so amazing in either its comedy or action that I’m compelled to award high Wickies.
FROM MOVIE-PICKER SPANDEXLURCH: This cult classic stars Micheal Cera as Scott Pilgrim, an under-achieving bassist in the great North of Toronto, where he meets Romona Flowers, and must fight her evil exes to win her hand. Great music, much of it performed by Cera and his actual band.
JAMIE AND JEANNE’S AI FACESWAP ART:
I’ll take my team to win.
I am not, in fact, fueled by soy milk.
Blonde and blades always seem to work.
Blonde on Blonde violence forthcoming.
Current relevance.
THE BEST:
Pretty good writing/my kind of comedy: Even though I’ve had more than plenty of the Michael Cera bit, Scott Pilgrim’s humor style overall is quite good (in the same way I appreciated Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz by the same director, Edgar Wright). Subtle, clever, deadpan - some highlights:
The song ‘We Hate You - Please Die.’ Actually there’s nothing subtle or clever about it at all, other than its mockery of music trends at the time. And Wallace’s response, ‘sweet - I love this one!’ But it’s still funny.
‘I don’t want you gaying up the place’ - again, not actually that subtle, I guess. But the phrasing sells it.
‘I want to have his adopted babies’ - degeneracy aside, the self-awareness is appreciated.
‘Your BF’s about to get effed in the bee’ - self-explanatory. Genius line.
The vegan police bit - only a stone’s throw from reality.
And there are plenty of others - it’s overall a well-written movie, script/dialogue-wise. I’m less convinced about the story overall, but a lot of the one-liners or bits are quality.
A unique rom-com/action combination: In general, most movies that try to cross or combine genres fail for me because they tend not to do anything excellently. If you try to do too many things, you actually do none. I do think Scott Pilgrim suffers from some of that, but I will acknowledge it creates a rom-com/action blend I’ve rarely, maybe never seen before. The comedy is well-written and well-performed, and the action, especially the fight choreography, is also very good. Do these two things really complement? Not really. Neither serves the other, necessarily. So while it doesn’t make an excellent blend in my opinion, it could be much worse, and it is in a style virtually all its own. It’s not a ripoff, and I respect that.
Comedy or not, the combat action is as good as any of its time.
Underrated: the term 'veganity.'
THE WORST:
Michael Cera, I get it: On last week’s stream, I mentioned that I hoped this would be a movie where Michael Cera isn’t so predictably Michael Cera. ‘Oh, I’m just an awkward soft-spoken shrimpy guy with bad luck with women, but then in the end it improbably works out’ -every Michael Cera movie ever.
Unfortuantely, so is this one. If you saw Michael Cera in Superbad, or Juno, or Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, you’ve seen Michael Cera in Scott Pilgrim. It’s like Will Farrell - yes, he has great moments, but I don’t need to see him as some variation of the same unlikely athlete every single year.
Sure, it’s cool that Cera himself plays a lot of the music for the production, and has some talent for it, and blah blah blah. I’m not saying Michael Cera is talentless. He’d wipe away any tears from such criticism with his millions of dollars that demonstrate otherwise. I’m saying I’ve just had enough of the bit.
Is there any actual meaning here?: I know - what kind of fool complains that a comedy lacks deeper insight? That’s fair - I am the guy who praises Dumb & Dumber, after all, a movie in which there clearly is zero deep philosophy at all.
But that’s the thing with comedy - if you’re all in on comedy, it’s gotta shine. The writing’s gotta be A+. The delivery, likewise. A viewer should be laughing out loud regularly. Or, perhaps the value is achieved through other means, like… some sort of moral or philosophical value.
In this case, the comedy isn’t so amazing that I’ll be quoting this movie. And the moral is absent or dubious. Go ahead, cheat on chicks and be a loser, cuz it works out fine? Maybe that’s the joke, actually.
Although, if I think about it - it’s actually pretty interesting that ‘Nega Scott’ (careful) is a nice guy. Doesn’t that imply that the real Scott is bad? Some depth I’ve overlooked, perhaps.
There's an interesting point here if it was more than a one-minute bit.
Is he even acting? Or is he just himself in every movie?
THE RATING: Perfectly watchable, and memorable in its combination of genres done fairly well, but lacking the hilarity and/or depth to earn higher marks.
YOUR RATING: Vote here ⬇ Note: if you get a notification saying you have already voted and you haven’t, this is because of an issue with iOS (Apple mobile devices). Try voting on a desktop or laptop computer.
NEXT WEEK: Army of Darkness (1992)
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