Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Director: Edgar Wright
Date of Release: August, 13 2010
Summary: Boy is in a band. Boy has gay roommate. Boy meets girl. Girl has seven evil exes. Boy must defeat seven evil exes to be with girl. Hilarity ensues.

AKI: There are three things you need to know about Scott Pilgrim. First, it’s loud, REALLY LOUD and REALLY BRIGHT. And I’m no bitter old lady banging on ceilings for my noisy neighbor to turn down his breathing, but even I was like whoa, too much stimuli! Bring sunglasses. Number two (get it? hehe): while sitting in a theatre watching Scott Pilgrim, there is a good chance you will be sitting next to or not too far away from Hipsters…always unpleasant. Bring spray. Finally, number three: this movie is awesome! It’s high-larious and a breath of creativity in the blah-ness that we’ve seen at the movies lately. But can you expect less from the director of Shaun of the Dead and the British TV show Spaced? Best of all, it doesn’t even matter if you’re not into retro video games or Michael Cera, it is still a good old time. * * * * 1/2

RYAN: Apparently this is adapted from a popular graphic novel and that's who the movie was marketed towards. For me, I saw it because I'm pretty much an Edgar Wright fanboy having seen and loved his two previous films, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Scott Pilgrim is slightly different in that a) it's not British and b) Simon Pegg is nowhere to be found. And yet Wright's signature frenetic pacing and editing are ever-present and actually lend themselves quite well to this graphic novel-turned-film. I love that Wright fully committed to the video game aesthetics with graphics, sounds, and situations native to video games.

Finally, the characters are just fantastic. Michael Cera seems like a no-brainer for the Scott Pilgrim role even if he is playing Michael Cera. Ramona's exes were uniformly fabulous, but I have to single out Brandon Routh playing bleach-blond telepathic vegan ex-boyfriend Todd Ingram. He just plays the part with aplomb and full commitment. Finally, my favorite character has got to me Scott's gay and a little bit totally slutty roommate Wallace Wells portrayed wonderfully by Kieran Culkin. So in a word, MUST-SEE, that's what this movie is. Run, don't walk, to your closest multiplex. It's by far one of the best movies that came out this summer. * * * * *