This is the most obscure comic-book title to be made into a movie since Tank Girl. I’m sure there are others but I’m going with the first thing that comes to mind until Hollywood finally makes an adaptation of Reid Fleming, World’s Toughest Milkman.
Michael Cera stars as the character he typically plays (see Superbad for simplicity) yet this one is bassist Scott Pilgrim, one third of a struggling Toronto-based band. Then he meets Ramona, the woman of his dreams (a rather unrecognizable Mary Elizabeth Winstead due to her hair). After a rocky start, matters seem to be going Scott’s way except for three things:
- His ex-girlfriend Envy Adams is back in town with her very popular band The Clash at Demonhead (music/voice provided by Metric). To add insult to the injury of Envy dumping him, she wants Scott’s band Sex Bob-Omb to open at a secret show. He’s outvoted by the other bandmates on this.
- He is currently in another, awkward relationship with a high-school girl named Knives Chau. It isn’t romantic, it’s more of a friendship morphing into Knives being obsessed with Scott.
- Lastly, the core plot element everybody saw in the trailers and on TV. In order to be with Ramona, Scott must defeat all seven all former exes (six guys, one woman) via hand-to-hand combat.
The story would fall flat on its ass without the abundant use of special effects since it’s very immersed in the videogame culture the West has cultivated over the last 30 years. Hence, it alienates about 80 percent of the general movie-watching population, more than stuff with ‘cult’ followings: Harry Potter, Twilight, Star Wars, etc. I love video games too and have been playing them since the late Seventies but even this had an annoying amount of obscure references. Maybe I didn’t love it because I’m not a true gamer, meaning I don’t spend three straight days playing Grand Theft Auto IV wearing an adult diaper and drinking Monster. The real problem was Michael Cera’s typecasting. His schlemiel persona is such an unsympathetic character you’d wish one the seven exes does stomp his ass in order to end this extended commercial for the Mortal Kombat game set to Beck.
Scott Pilgrim really doesn’t go into any new technical/storytelling territory neither.When The Matrix debuted 11 years earlier, the fight sequences were cool. Today, the techniques used for this kind of action are rather routine.
It’s worth watching once though. Then you will understand any references made to it through the big screen at sporting events (same for the rather unfunny sensation The Hangover), namely after fights in hockey games. Beyond that, Scott Pilgrim v. the World is a remake of the 1995 movie version of Mortal Kombat with a better soundtrack.