Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Two things jump out immediately from that trailer:

1) Edgar Wright. Finding out that the Director/Screenwriter of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz has his fingerprints all over this is instantly interesting. Both films are hilarious at their core, but also posses effective “in jokes” revolving around zombie movies and American 1990’s cop action thrillers respectively. This would be considered a strong vote of confidence to me.

2) I've always appreciated the guy who says, “The best parts are in the trailer. Just watch that and save your money.” It falls somewhere between a middle finger to the screenwriter and a high five for the trailer editor, but I think it’s an incomplete assessment. Trailers can also be manipulated to throw off audiences, therefore I don't place 100% stock them. However in this instance, the trailer for SPVTW gives us the essential plot, style, pacing, humor and players involved, but still leaves me wanting more. I’m confident walking into this movie because I already know what to expect.

While not a prerequisite, I suppose the degree of enjoyment for this movie is dependent on your love of video games and comic books at an early age. I found myself nodding at nostalgic snippets, immersed in the variety and speed at which classic NES moments flashed on the screen. The comic book paneled fight sequences held their own allure as they sparked many fond recollections of reading that same stack of comics on the front staircase as a 6^th grader on a perfectly sunny day.

That said, I have two gripes. The first evil ex was lacking in my opinion. I can’t really explain why, but you’ll know what I mean. Perhaps the director was just being faithful to the graphic novel, but I thought he was (for lack of a better word) stupid. He stood out in an otherwise hip landscape of characters. The second spot of contention for me was the pacing during the last 1/3 of the movie. The fight sequences, while a strong component, get a little repetitive and you become excited to see the Twins match-up because they represent numbers 5 & 6, meaning the final showdown with #7 is fast approaching.

Besides those two blips, I was enamored with this film. The final scene (hopefully without stepping on it too much) consisted of that all-too-familiar sensation of playing a video game level so many times that you can basically walk through it because you know every enemy and at which rate they advance.

The most indelible item from this movie is the maturation of Michael Cera. He’s gone from the peak of Arrested Development, Superbad and Juno to the middling plateaus of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and Youth in Revolt. He's even braved the valleys of Year One (14% on Rotten Tomatoes) and Paper Heart (1.1 mil box office). Scott Pilgrim’s arrival feels like next step.

Michael Cera in a Playboy interview on ubiquitous "On losing his virginity..." question:

To be honest I don't remember too much about it. All I remember is I had been awake for almost 86 hours, I was on the roof of a Public Storage building in what seemed to be a freezing rainstorm, and Crispin Glover was there with a disposable camera he kept winding even though it had clearly run out of exposures.

He’s comically talented, but more than that, he's immensely relatable. His characters always seem to have these vague sensibilities and this persistent earnestness that get you rooting for them. Cera seems like someone in your neighborhood growing up, riding bikes, playing video games and then for whatever reason never hanging out once high school starts. I feel like the arc of his career will be determined by this Scott Pilgrim role. Up until now, his career choices have been somewhat muddled by his perceived lack of range. I’m not sure if it’s so much a lack of range but an area of comfort that he happens to do well. Regardless, this feels like this is beginning of a departure for him. While he may ride the quirky and comic wave out to the horizon, he appears to at least have the skill needed to craft a more diverse imdb page, as evidenced by his rumored next role as Walter the Muppet.

The bottomline, if you haven't already, put this one on the queue for a Friday night. Go for sure.

Next Week is "Colin Farrell Week". Here is my early submission: