Why I Liked... Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)

(Dir. Edgar Wright Starring: Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin, Mary Elizabeth Winstead)

Pretty. Damn. Awesome.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is a comic I’ve never read, and after skimming volume one in a store in downtown Copenhagen, I don’t really have any real desire to do so either. Maybe if I gave it time I could grow to love and enjoy it, but it just isn’t really My Thing.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is a film I have seen and really enjoyed. It held the right amount of quirk, the right amount of slapstick, the right amount of Is-This-Real-Life?, the right amount of No-It-Isn’t, and the right amount of emotional attachment to the viewer.

Which makes me wonder-if it had so much right about it, how come it bombed at the box office? Well, let me put this to you this way: not everyone in the world enjoys looking at retro video games, not everyone in the world enjoys comic books, and not everyone in the world enjoys the assault of colour and pixelation that Scott Pilgrim provides.

Haters to the right.

I know, right? Sad, but true.

Another problem I had with the film was the love interest, Ramona Flowers (Winstead). Perpetuated by Scott (Cera) as the Woman of All Women, Ramona doesn’t come across as anything remarkable. Which technically, is everyone’s lot in life-what I think is remarkable, another thinks of as boring, as so on. So Scott being in love with Ramona upon first sight isn’t that much of a surprise-movie heroes do it all the time.

But the premise of Ramona having a League of Evil Ex-Partners? And then her comment about carrying your baggage around with you? Just seemed like a bit of a whallop on the nose. So no thank you, Ramona.

Regarding the Evil Exes however...now we’re back to Ramona and her prowess. Am I missing something here? All these Evil Exes, completely willing to put their lives on hold while challenging Scott to a fight to the death over a girl they dated once? To quote a film soon coming to a review blog near you, “what is it with her? Does she have beer-flavoured nipples?”

"GIVE ME A PERSONALITYYYYY!"

No, really. Does she? Because I guess, based on what I know of guys and their tastes in women (which isn’t very much, to tell the truth), that that would do it.

Maybe.

While in the world of Scott Pilgrim, he and his peers seem to have the ability to fight like those characters in video games. Ok, I’m rolling with it. So everyone is a Street Fighter. I get it. But Ramona takes it further and somehow manages to have the personality of a two dimensional video game character as well. I’ve heard that in the source material she’s a lot cooler, a lot more ‘worth it’, so to speak. But without knowing that, Scott’s love for Ramona falls flat.

Stylistically, Wright easily captures the early onset nostalgia of a generation not yet hitting its mid-life crisis. A pixelated Universal Studios logo, video game music, actual coins scattering whenever a foe is defeated, grabbing a 1-UP life, and wielding a sword of fire makes us all think of our childhood video games where, without even having to be told to, knowing that letting out a gust of breath into the game console would do what any reset button can do, and better.

Looks like the last New Year's Eve party I went to...

And that’s exactly what happened to this movie, and that’s where it failed at the box office. No one told us to go-’us’ being the actual audience, that is-because we knew that it would work just like our old Nintendo game players. But for the generations sandwiched on either side of us, they didn’t know, and quickly decided it nothing more than either a silly game or something outdated and over their heads.

Which is strange-what is my generation supposed to feel about this? Old, because the new youth don’t get it, or will we perpetually be ignorant, lazy teenagers who spend all our time inside, eyes glued to the television set? Is this turning into a Curious Case?

Regardless, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, box office flop or not, Ramona Flowers or not, remains in my good books. Though why I mentioned the dreaded Ramona at the end of what was intended to be a positive review, I don’t know.