Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

"If you want something bad, you have to fight for it. Step up your game, Scott. Break out the L-word."

Director: Edgar Wright
Studio: Big Talk Films/Relativity Media
Genre: Comedy/Action
Country of Release: United States
Year of Release: 2010

I will begin by saying I was incredibly hyped to see this film, I had read the graphic novels and quite enjoyed them. I will continue by saying that although the film was good and unique, there are definitely some flaws in it. Scott Pilgrim is the story of a young man who has just met his self-described girl of his dreams and before being able to date her, he must first face her seven evil exes who want nothing more than to kill him. The film is interestingly an alternative culture refuge with something for video game fans, indie rock fans, hipsters, and even comic book fans to get something from. However, this is the initial and greatest flaw of the film as far as I'm concerned.

While the film does a wonderful job of being entertaining for its target audiences through all of its jokes and references, somewhere along the line the idea of character development went straight out the window. We are introduced to a rather large cast of characters but the majority of them have next to no lines and absolutely nothing in the way of defining characterization outside of our initial impression of them. The film is stylish yes (with its use of on-screen text, video game sound effects and visuals and just general tone) but in terms of substance, something is just missing. It feels almost as if the film is pandering to impress its target demographic more than trying to tell its own story at portions of the film. Scott Pilgrim is an underdog romantic comedy/action flick but the lack of any character development for anyone besides Scott leaves the romantic subtext of the movie coming across as ultimately shallow even though there are some interesting concepts about how to make a relationship work presented.

The script really is witty yet at the same time just too fast-paced, I understand that it's hard to fit the content of six graphic novel volumes into a nearly two hour movie but the film moves at such a fast pace that it becomes even more surreal and hard to take in at moments than the premise already is. Some of the jokes and acting are perhaps a bit too campy for their own good (possibly creating a few more groans than laughs depending on your sense of humor) even though I realize this was largely on purpose, both overall work for what the film is trying to accomplish though. I will give total props to the well crafted and memorable score and soundtrack of the film however. It manages to fit both the video game influences and garage rock influences of the film perfectly.

Though there is apparently some word from several reviewers, the cast, and even the original creator himself that the film is perhaps to be taken as being completely from Scott's perspective in his head, this adds an interesting twist to the story and while it does potentially explain the lack of characterization for everyone else, it is not exactly something that is obvious enough while viewing the film to stop such an interpretation from changing my final opinion. A good movie that manages to be fun but not an utterly fantastic movie even for its target demographic.

Rating: 7.5/10