In Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, the inventive, free-floating ode to nerdville, the comic-book geek stays in the picture. Whether it's Scott's everyday loser life or his ninja-fighting, super-powered imaginary one, it's all played with a sort of Michael Cera-styled sweet, nebbishy sensibility that works well since the real Michael Cera actually got the role. Go figure.
Actually, there was a lot of figuring to be done to convert Bryan Lee O'Malley's distinctive artistic, and loosely autobiographical, musings about a 22-year-old Toronto native whose life is framed by his total lack of ambition until he's in a fight to the death to woo the girl of his dreams. Whew. Which is why Edgar Wright of Shaun Of The Dead, with all its slacker-zombie nonsense, seemed like such a good choice to direct. He was.
Scott's life is loosely envisioned as a video game, with Cera channelling his Cera-ness perfectly, which is tougher than it looks. Be prepared for a lot of free-associating inside this fantastical world where the ordinary rules of gravity, coolness and linear storytelling do not necessarily apply.
Absurdity abounds
There are various gaming and social networking conceits. Meanwhile that dream girl's name is Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and she has seven deadly exes, as opposed to seven deadly sins, which is more the norm for chicks in fanboy films. Scott must fight each "to the death".
That is the genius and difficulty of Scott Pilgrim; it both defies and, at its lower moments, meets expectations for this sort of film.
Absurdity is in every corner as Scott finds himself in one pickle after another; it's a mix of sweet and sour bites, but bracing regardless. All the action swirls around Scott's love life, which by all accounts he shouldn't even have.
Ramona is an intriguing character, handled in intriguing ways by the very promising Winstead. She's thrift store-chic, blue-streaked hair. But mainly, she's got the enigmatic honesty of a twentysomething trying to figure out who she is. Winstead gives Ramona the right dash of moxie and a splash of sexy.
The exes that Scott must dispense with are tangy little slices of genre satires. It would spoil the fun to say more beyond that each has its own charm and the final one, thanks to a very funny Jason Schwartzman, might be the best. Scott has a few exes of his own to deal with too, and all the exes, both his and hers, do smart turns, in part because of the many smart actors you'll remember from other projects that drop by.
There are pop culture references galore thrown into the mix. Things do go on too long, and repeat themselves, as the film toggles between the fights and Scott trying to figure out if Ramona is the one. Though the fun is not so much in who wins or loses the girl — it's the playing that matters, and Scott Pilgrim Vs The World definitely has game.
