It's the geek fest you've been warned about, lets make no bones about that, but this is a movie that has a heart bigger than we could have dared hope for. Edgar Wright (director of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead) some how creates a world, chock full of pop culture references, that's both fun to be in and utterly charming.
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World started life as a graphic novel, the new go to source for Hollywood apparently, and it doesn't bother hiding that one little bit. Not that that matters a jot when a movie is this much fun.
Scott (Michael Cera) is a 22 year old slacker, no job, a bassist in a band and dating a 17 year old Chinese school girl. Well sort of dating, they haven't held hands more than once and all they talk about are her friends. Then Scott has a dream about a girl on roller blades and promptly sees her in the local library.
To cut a simple story short, he falls for her, she falls for him, so he dumps his Chinese girlfriend and starts dating Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) but with big consequences. You see she has seven evil exes that Scott must defeat to win the girl. Each battle takes place in a video game style, full of colour and fabulous 8-bit overlaid graphics.
It's not really set in any reality you're gonna recognise, there are jump cuts as Scott's mind wanders and moments of surreal craziness during each of the battles. The first time Scott flies through the air to meet an opponent with a delicious drop kick you can't help but smile.
Is it as funny as you might have read elsewhere? Hmmm. Yes and no. There are laugh out loud moments and the seven evil exes provide plenty of moments that will raise a grin, but no, it's not a stand out comedy. However, that doesn't detract from the warmth of the film at all, it's geek heaven in a way that so many blockbusters fail to be. It doesn't try and patronise with any exposition to explain how this weird universe works, you either accept it or you don't. And that in a nut shell is going to be Scott Pilgrim's biggest problem. How many people are going to appreciate it? I suspect it will be a minority because so many just aren't going to 'get it'.
Michael Cera is ace as the lead and Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays the super cool Ramona brilliantly. She's the intelligent, indie kid girlfriend all the geeks want to bag. The supporting cast are all great too, the colourful band members and Scott's gay house-mate (Kieran Culkin) the pick of the bunch. Of the seven evil exes Lucas Lee (Chris Evans) and Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh) are the standouts, both getting more screen time than the others, Routh's character gaining his psychic abilities due to being a vegan. Genius.
If you have some geek in you, or have owned a games console in the last twenty years, you're gonna love Scott Pilgrim V's The World. You'll walk that bit taller when you leave the cinema, because guess what, they went and made a film for us.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
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