A Thomas Bess review of:
Directed By: Edgar Wright
Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Alison Pill, Jason Schwartzman, Ellen Wong, Kieran Culkin, Johnny Simmons, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza
Run Time: 112 face-punching, coin-collecting, power-up scoring minutes.
Admission time. I don’t like Michael Cera much. Those six words (ok, those five words and a contraction) more than any others are enough to send my comedy loving friends into shrieking fits of histrionics, all the while invoking the spirit of Arrested Development to descend from the heavens and smite me in the name of all that is funny and good. Now granted, AD was good stuff, but our Mr. Cera was part of an ensemble, meaning his soft-spoken, charmingly befuddled obnoxiousness came in much smaller doses. That said, I like video games, comic books, kung fu, Edgar Wright and I have a healthy appreciation for the surreal and absurd (my day to day existence being a prime example) so when I first saw the trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, I decided to imagine the title was A Lot of Poeple Beat Up Michael Cera in Hilarious Ways to make the experience more tolerable. Having seen it, I can now say that I don’t dislike him nearly as much and this is easily the funniest movie I’ve seen all year. I can also say that anyone who’s ever liked video games, especially those titles from the halcyon days of the NES need to get themselves to a theater and see this immediately.
The Plot
Story goes a little something like this. In the enchanted land of Toronto Canada, Scott Pilgrim (Cera) is the bassist in a band called Sex Bob-Omb (if you get that joke, you’re well on your way to enjoying the rest of the movie) and dating an effervescent high schooler by the name of Knives Chau (Wong). Things are moving along rather smoothly in Scott’s laid back hipster world until the arrival of Ramona Flowers (Winstead) sends his heart and his head into a tailspin. See, Scott wants to date Ramona, but he’s too cowardly to break up with Knives and if that wasn’t bad enough, his new love interest has a League of Evil Ex’s, seven of them to be precise and Scott has to fight (excuse me, defeat) all of them if he wants a chance to win the fair lady’s hand. Oh, and along the way he’s gotta help Sex Bob-Omb win a huge battle of the bands, figure out how to break the news to Knives and of course, not get killed by the vast amounts of super powered wonkiness being hurled in his general direction.
The Good
So what’s good? Give credit where credit is due, Cera does a fine job throughout, managing to make Scott an enjoyable, likable hero even when he’s not acting particularly heroic. More important, while this is very much Cera’s film, the rest of the cast have their moments to shine, especially Kieran Culkin who plays droll gay roommate Wallace Wells and Alison Pill, who plays snarky drummer Kim Pine. Winstead and Wong do a great job playing the two very different ladies in Scott’s life. The former playing stoic almost to the point of moroseness but still managing to exude dream girl charm while the latter is so openly devoted to Scott that you wanna smack the dope upside the head for not treating her better. Special mention goes out to Chris Evans, Brandon Routh and Jason Schwartzman — Schwartzman is the leader of Ramona’s evil ex’s, but either Evans or Routh could’ve easily been the “final boss” which just goes to show how much awesome is packed into the proceedings. Of course all this would be for naught if the script was terrible, thankfully it is not and the gags just keep coming, so fast in fact that it’d take multiple viewings, even from the angriest of video game nerds to catch everything there is to catch. As for the video game references, all I can say is that if you think there should be a joke or a nod to it, there probably is. The only obvious bit I was expecting and didn’t see was some love for the infamous Konami Code, but I could’ve just missed it, so yeah, repeat viewings are on the horizon.
The Not So Good
What’s not good? If you strip away all the manic silliness and over the top combat, you’d realize that Scott spends a good chunk of movie being a selfish jerk. He’s a much more tolerable human being by the time the credits roll, which is a good thing, but his early treatment of friends and bandmates might leave you wondering why Ramona would consider giving him the time of day. Along similar lines, there was a moment when I was left to wonder just what it was about Ramona that made her worth taking all these Street Fighter inspired poundings for. Granted, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is easy on the eyes and she can hold her own in a kung fu battle (always important when seeking a stable, long-term relationship), but for a story that’s so nontraditional in other respects, I found it odd that they’d resort to the ol’ love at first sight device instead of showing a flashback where she fought a dragon or staved off an alien invasion, something like that. Also worthy of note, Scott has an evil-ex himself, a diabolical blonde by the name of Envy Adams. Played with strutting, scenery chomping relish by Brie Larson, Envy comes off as a character that should’ve had a much bigger part in the story, but she disappears near the midway point and leaves you to wonder if she’ll show up in some later installment. After all, if Ramona can have a League, why can’t Scott?
Should You See It?
Should you see it? My first reaction is yes, yes you should, get out to the theater right this very minute and contribute your hard earned money to a comedy that doesn’t suck. However, in the interest of directing folks to the movies that are right for them, I’ll say this. Watch the trailer and gauge your reaction. If you thought “Holy shit, that looks brilliant,” go and check it out. If you thought “Good lord, that looks stupid,” stay far, far away. Because as kooky as it is, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is very much a case of what you see is what you get. If you love videogames, comics and wall to wall wackiness, you will spend close to two hours laughing your ass off. Otherwise, you’ll spend those two hours scratching your head and wondering just what the fuck is going on and why did all those guys just explode into a shower of coins?
The Verdict
If, on a hypothetic scale of Mario power-ups, being small is awful and the Tanooki Suit is perfect, then Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is Goomba’s Shoe and that my friends, is pretty great.
Til next time, always remember that the calls are coming from inside the house.
Tom Bess recently shaved his legendary sideburns at a cost of two hours and five pounds. The end result is a slightly puffier, but much more aerodynamic movie-reviewing machine who is still patiently waiting for Allison Mack to return his calls. While he’s waiting, he’ll read copious amounts of Lovecraft and eat too many Peach Gummy Bears.
