Best (Sex Bo)Bomb of the Summer
Alright, let's get this out of the way right now. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World bombed. It tanked. It was a box office failure. It opened fifth, and took most of its earnings on its opening Friday, indicating a total lack of word-of-mouth buzz. It made $10 million over its first weeekend, earning back a paltry sixth of its budget. It lost out to not just The Expendables and Eat, Pray Love, but The Other Guys, in its second week, and Inception, in its fifth. If one were a Hollywood executive, Scott Pilgrim would be an unmitigated disaster.
Thankfully, however, this one at least isn't a Hollywood executive. And this one can report that, whatever the box office might have to say, as a film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a triumph.
Now, right up front I have to admit that I have almost no familiarity with the source material; I've read volume one, and that's it. I've heard a variety of complaints regarding the transition from comic to film, particularly regarding the lack of development among Scott's friends and associates, and it's true, this is clearly Scott Pilgrim's movie, with others involved as appropriate, no more. But as I said, I don't really know what it's like in the comic, so I'm just judging this based on its standing as a film. And as a film, Scott Pilgrim works.
Unlike the man himself.
Scott is a 22-year old slacker, 'between' jobs, sponging off his gay roommate and playing in a band that is so un-established they're willing to take gigs opening for Scott's hated, 'she who must not be named'-style ex's band. The biggest ray of sunshine in his life when the movie begins? He's 'dating' 17 year old Knives Chau, a relationship that mostly consists of her telling him about the social drama of yearbook club and gushing over his band, Sex Bob-omb, while they ride the bus together and almost hold hands. Scott's nice enough, but there's clearly a jerky core to him, an almost 'Nice Guy' vibe hiding underneath Micheal Cera's amiable dorkiness. This comes out most clearly when Scott meets the rainbow-haired Ramona, a girl who the on-screen narration flat-out says he stalks through a party. After managing to harass his way into a date with her he continues to string along Knives, though it's more because he appears constitutionally averse to conflict of any kind than because he's actually interested in having two girls at one time. And then comes the revelation that in order to date Ramona, Scott 'may' have to defeat her seven evil exes.
And by may, of course, we mean will.
The movie uses the seven evil exes to frame Scott's progression from self-centred man-child to (semi-)mature adult, and it's handled quite well. The first two fights are pretty easy wins for Scott, reinforcing his early belief that he's fine as-is and doesn't need to grow and change, but as they progress they get harder, further testing not only Scott's committment to his relationship, but his own sense of self-worth. The finale makes this pretty explicit, even going so far as to have Scott himself lampshade that he's learned a valuable lesson, after-school-style. The setup is excellent as a character study of Scott Pilgrim, but it must be admitted that it does rather leave Ramona outside the film. She's less a character than a Maguffin, never more perfectly exemplified than in the finale. There, she literally stands helplessly in the background while Scott saves her, and the day, and he's not even doing it for her the second time around. It's a shame, because it prevents the watcher from really connecting to Ramona in her own right; she has to be appreciated solely as an object of Scott's surprisingly non-sexual desire. It's the one really glaring weakness in this film, frankly.
Still and all, the film is satisfying on pretty much every level. The fight scenes are excellently choreographed and intriguingly varied, the special effects are crisp and eye-catching, the music is sharp, the humour is understated but no less effective for it, and Micheal Cera's Scott manages to be simultaneously slightly seedy and dorkily loveable. Cera has actually come in for some criticism on this one, though it often seems to be less about his performance than about how darn many movies he's put out lately. I, however, really enjoyed his performance here, and I don't think anyone else could have managed that uniquely akward charm that is so essential to Scott's likeability. As the focal character, and the only truly developed one in the film, it's so important for Scott to be likeable. And thankfully, for the most part at least, he is.
So, go see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. If you still can, that is. At the local theatre here, it's coming down just two weeks after it went up, a sad indication of its commercial performance.
But hey, that's what dvd is for, no?
Thankfully, however, this one at least isn't a Hollywood executive. And this one can report that, whatever the box office might have to say, as a film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a triumph.
Now, right up front I have to admit that I have almost no familiarity with the source material; I've read volume one, and that's it. I've heard a variety of complaints regarding the transition from comic to film, particularly regarding the lack of development among Scott's friends and associates, and it's true, this is clearly Scott Pilgrim's movie, with others involved as appropriate, no more. But as I said, I don't really know what it's like in the comic, so I'm just judging this based on its standing as a film. And as a film, Scott Pilgrim works.
Unlike the man himself.
Scott is a 22-year old slacker, 'between' jobs, sponging off his gay roommate and playing in a band that is so un-established they're willing to take gigs opening for Scott's hated, 'she who must not be named'-style ex's band. The biggest ray of sunshine in his life when the movie begins? He's 'dating' 17 year old Knives Chau, a relationship that mostly consists of her telling him about the social drama of yearbook club and gushing over his band, Sex Bob-omb, while they ride the bus together and almost hold hands. Scott's nice enough, but there's clearly a jerky core to him, an almost 'Nice Guy' vibe hiding underneath Micheal Cera's amiable dorkiness. This comes out most clearly when Scott meets the rainbow-haired Ramona, a girl who the on-screen narration flat-out says he stalks through a party. After managing to harass his way into a date with her he continues to string along Knives, though it's more because he appears constitutionally averse to conflict of any kind than because he's actually interested in having two girls at one time. And then comes the revelation that in order to date Ramona, Scott 'may' have to defeat her seven evil exes.
And by may, of course, we mean will.
The movie uses the seven evil exes to frame Scott's progression from self-centred man-child to (semi-)mature adult, and it's handled quite well. The first two fights are pretty easy wins for Scott, reinforcing his early belief that he's fine as-is and doesn't need to grow and change, but as they progress they get harder, further testing not only Scott's committment to his relationship, but his own sense of self-worth. The finale makes this pretty explicit, even going so far as to have Scott himself lampshade that he's learned a valuable lesson, after-school-style. The setup is excellent as a character study of Scott Pilgrim, but it must be admitted that it does rather leave Ramona outside the film. She's less a character than a Maguffin, never more perfectly exemplified than in the finale. There, she literally stands helplessly in the background while Scott saves her, and the day, and he's not even doing it for her the second time around. It's a shame, because it prevents the watcher from really connecting to Ramona in her own right; she has to be appreciated solely as an object of Scott's surprisingly non-sexual desire. It's the one really glaring weakness in this film, frankly.
Still and all, the film is satisfying on pretty much every level. The fight scenes are excellently choreographed and intriguingly varied, the special effects are crisp and eye-catching, the music is sharp, the humour is understated but no less effective for it, and Micheal Cera's Scott manages to be simultaneously slightly seedy and dorkily loveable. Cera has actually come in for some criticism on this one, though it often seems to be less about his performance than about how darn many movies he's put out lately. I, however, really enjoyed his performance here, and I don't think anyone else could have managed that uniquely akward charm that is so essential to Scott's likeability. As the focal character, and the only truly developed one in the film, it's so important for Scott to be likeable. And thankfully, for the most part at least, he is.
So, go see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. If you still can, that is. At the local theatre here, it's coming down just two weeks after it went up, a sad indication of its commercial performance.
But hey, that's what dvd is for, no?