Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a twenty-something bass guitarist for the pretty awesome garage band, “Sex-Bob-Omb.” He’s recently been dumped big time by his longtime girl and is having difficulty recovering. So he goes for something more attainable I guess, and starts dating Knives Chau (Ellen Wong)… a high schooler. She’s cute, uncomplicated, and slightly obsessed with his band. Then Scott discovers the girl of his dreams (literally): Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Think Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine: quirky, changes hair color every week, kind of confusing and complicated. When Scott pursues her, he finds out that he will need to defeat her seven evil exes who are set on complete control of Ramona’s love life. If he wants to keep dating her that is.
First of all, I was hooked when I first saw the trailer. Comic book awesomeness in a movie? Oh man I’m there. Frankly, I did expect it to be one of those movies that wastes all of its good jokes in the trailer, “Time to break out the ‘L’ word.” “Lesbian?” “The other ‘L’ word.” “LesbianS?” I am pleased to report that it defeat the odds, and the entire movie was endlessly hilarious.
“When I’m around you, I kind of feel like I’m on drugs. Not that I do drugs. Unless you do drugs, in which case I do them all the time. All of them.” The dialogue’s great. Just sayin’
Second, I am totally digging the cast! I’m a big Michael Cera fan from Arrested Development and Juno, so I was obviously excited for him to break out with something different and allow him to shine a little bit. No more George Michael for this dude. On that note, how about Mae Whitman, ANN of all people, showin’ up as the weirdo lesbian ex? (Okay, they’re ALL weirdos, but it being Ann makes it that much more weirdified). Yeah, wasn’t expectin’ that one. But besides Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is pretty good as our quirky lady Ramona, Kieran Culkin is entertaining as Scott’s gay roommate, Ellen Wong as Knives, Alison Pill (yay Dan in Real Life!), Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh, and Jason Schwartzman, Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza and basically any other minor character are all freaking awesome.
I also wasn’t expecting to enjoy the music of Sex-Bob-Omb quite so much as I did. But I’m still listenin’ to it! ”We are Sex Bob-omb. We are here to sell out and make money and stuff.”
I guess my favorite thing about Scott Pilgrim is that it never gets boring. Think about it, seven epic fights – and I never got tired of watching them battle it out, video game power-ups and all (LOVE the coins!!) The pacing is perfect: fast but not too fast. It’s stylistic, it’s edgy, it’s quirky, it’s lovable! More times the one I’d laugh to myself, “What on earth am I watching?” I’ve heard multiple arguments that it’s trying too hard to be hipster cool and not spending enough time in the real world. I disagree, I think it’s totally hipster cool, but strangely grounded. And I, for one, loved the Seinfeld scene.
It’s visually electrifying – all of the bright colors and VG embellishments. Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) created something fresh and stellar that brightens our decade. Granted, it ain’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s freaking awesome, man. 8/10
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