Rent Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the graphic novels (paid link)
Written by: Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright (screenplay), Bryan Lee O'Malley (Oni Press graphic novels)
Directed by: Edgar Wright
Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Alison Pill, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Johnny Simmons, Chris Evans, Mae Whitman
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
In a magically realistic version of Toronto, a young man must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes one by one in order to win her heart.
Verdict
This boasts such a distinct style, visually mixing film and graphic novel with a lot of pop culture references. Any movie that attempts to mimic this style would be accused of mimicry and with good reason. It's difficult to achieve a style like this without being overbearing. The movie is metaphorical, as Scott competes against his girlfriend's exes literally. The dialog is sharp and this is frequently very funny without being over the top. There's a craft to this movie in all aspects, though the visuals are certainly striking.
Watch It.
Review
This is a movie that could have been bad in so many ways, yet it succeeds due to an attention to detail. This finds a way to bring a graphic novel to the screen in a way that feels like an homage to the source material and looks cool too. I liked it the first time I saw, it but what this does on a technical level is even more impressive watching it again.
From the start this is video game influenced, from the 8-bit styled production company logo to the sounds of The Legend of Zelda video game. To bring the graphic novel to the screen, onomatopoeia words often appear on screen.
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| Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead play Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers |
This is a caricature of life. It's silly but treated seriously with the dialog being very clever and quick. Scott (Michael Cera) plays in a band and has just started dating a high school girl when he meets a woman that infatuates him instantly, Romana (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).
The only problem is that he must fight Romana's ex boyfriends. That's where this movie becomes especially, stylish, ridiculous, and very much a video game. Each fight gets more ridiculous. You wouldn't think it, but Scott is surprisingly competent in each fight. Part of that is that this is a video game, and in a video game you face insurmountable odds.
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| Chris Evans, Michael Cera play Lucas Lee, Scott Pilgrim |
The fight scenes are really good. I don't know if this is satirizing or paying homage to graphic novels, but this gets the tone just right. These fights are over-dramatic with incredibly high stakes and lots of excitement. These fights are bound to a very low stakes scenario where Scott just wants to date a woman.
This movie frequently composes shots to resemble frames in a comic and it does a great job with it, especially the action shots. It's absolutely ridiculous, but that's the point and this does everything with such earnestness. It's creative and inventive. At a glance you'd think this is some b-movie that blindly skews to a younger crowd, but there is a craft to shot framing, composition, dialog, and even the jokes. This type of movie is easy to get wrong and a feat to do well. This does a great job, and I think the style for which this aims, and certainly achieves, was unlike any other movie. It's a movie that can't be copied. No one knew what to think about it.
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