Short version: SEE IT! The most fun you’ll have at the movies this summer has arrived, that is all.
(Finally, were getting a few good movies this summer. After the past few god awful months I’m relieved that the season is wrapping up with a few payoffs.)
Grade A+
The Good: First, The world that this movie is set in is AWESOME. It is the world of a Nintendo game come to life. Scott Pilgrim is based on the ONI press comic book series of the same name by writer/illustrator Bryan Lee O'Malley. It is set in a world where doing battle, leveling up, and getting coins for victories is all a normal part of life and the gonzo sort of things that happen in Super Mario bros. are nothing out of the ordinary. The cast is the second component that brings the quality to this film. It stars Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anna Kendrick and just about every other young actor in the world as the friends of Scott Pilgrim or the evil exes of Ramona Flowers. Everyone involved turns in an awesomely hilarious performance. Almost every character is a scene stealer, (if that’s even possible). With the best parts coming mostly from Culkin and Brandon Routh. The story is quite endearing. It doesn’t tell us anything a thousand other movies haven’t already said, but it does it in the freshest way I’ve ever seen a movie tell me anything in years. It was a very new style of filmmaking and it was impossible to be bored. And this was the most original work Michael Cera has done in his entire career, (A good thing I think since people seem to be getting tired of him playing his arrested development character in every movie). The movie also hilariously scathes and loves on hipsters like I’ve never seen before. Subtly mocking indie bands, vegans, and the like. While also making them seem kind of cool in the process.
The Bad: as glowing as this review is, there is one real down side. If you aren’t or never have been a Nintendo player, (or a Super Nintendo player) you won’t understand anything that’s happening at all. That means twenty to thirty year olds are the target audience. That’s not miniscule, but it is smaller than a family movie or a gritty thriller will attract. It really is a small demographic they have aimed for, and although the film is unquestionably high in quality, it is also a bit ‘inside’ for its own good. If you’re younger than twenty you should get it still, but most people older than forty will be totally lost.
I’m really impressed with director Edgar Wright, (Shawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) for being able to adapt this material at all. I’ve read the graphic novels, (the finale was published about a week before the film’s release). And I was certain that putting all of this in one movie would be impossible to pull off. It is six freaking volumes long and crazy as hell. But here it is and I’ve given it an A+ rating. Shows what I know.
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