Edgar Wright...Director
--Cast--
Michael Cera...Scott Pilgrim
Mary Elizabeth Winstead...Ramona Victoria Flowers
Kieran Culkin...Wallace Wells
Ellen Wong...Knives Chau
When directors need an actor to portray an unprepared young man waiting for the world to crush him, they turn to Michael Cera. He is a veteran of portraying such young awkward stuttering men as in films like "Juno," "Superbad" and television's "Arrested Development."
"Scott Pilgrim vs the World" will be known as Cera's best work.
Director Edgar Wright's other directorial efforts include "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz." Here Wright channels the humor of those two films for another round of action comedy. Based on the comic book Scott Pilgrim, the film explores the unpredictable rise of Pilgrim's mushy spine into a much more apparent one.
Twenty-two year old Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) falls in love with Ramona Flowers (Mary Winstead). Pilgrim's courtship of Flowers is rather succinct. He is thwarted by the arrival of the seven evil exes. Who aren't necessarily evil but self-absorbed and vengeful. Although those character descriptions aren't as verbally appealing as the official name for the group, The League of Evil Exes.
The League challenges Pilgrim to several duels. Pilgrim must fight each of the members to the death in order to remain Flower's lover. Yet, Pilgrim isn't alone in his fight, he has plenty of moral support from his friends.
Kieran Culkin plays Scott Pilgrim's homosexual roommate Wallace Wells. The character's sexual orientation isn't much of a character trait than it is a gag. The film references the character's sexual orientation multiple times during narration and for humor.
Culkin's delivery is impeccable and the character definitely brings life to the film. He plays the character in a subdued way. It's quality acting and surprisingly good coming from a Culkin.
Mirroring Scott Pilgrim's turn from scrawny hero to vicious bad assery is Ellen Wong's Knives Chau. The character starts out very wholesome and sweet, but like Pilgrim, undergoes transformation.
From a naïve girl, to a troubled lover, to finally becoming a mature young woman, Wong delivers. It's a transformation that few supporting actors get to go through.
Rounding out the cast as Scott Pilgrim's band mates are Kim (Alison Pill), Stephen (Mark Webber) and Young Neil (Johnny Simmons). The band's inclusion in the film is irrelevant. They're not necessary to the plot and serve only to give Pilgrim some semblance of a talent other than being nervous.
Everyone wants Pilgrim to realize something about himself he has yet to recognize...his potential. They want him to grow up and overcome his emotional issues. Everyone wants to see Pilgrim confront his morose self-defeating behavior and become a man. To do that he's got to believe in himself and acknowledge his own flaws.
Michael Cera's performance as Pilgrim takes a much more prominent role than his previous films. He is visibly angry, confident at times and even masculine. He stands up for himself. He believes in something. What makes all of this enjoyable is Cera's ability to present himself as an uncoordinated musician, geek juxtaposed with newfound confidence and zeal. Cera isn't going to be the next big action hero, but he definitely arrives at being a believable one.
There isn't much to go on in the way of Pilgrim's romance. He doesn't seem to have a greater reason to like Romona Flowers other than an ethereal vision.
Why does Pilgrim like her? Maybe it's because Flowers dyes her hair color just like Kate Winslet does in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Flower's hair colors are her emotions or rather her only personality traits.
Action sequences play out in a hyper realistic fashion. Visual cues derived from video games are found and in some parts of the film explain changes to Scott Pilgrim. In a scene he even gains "+1 life."
When the several fights commence, characters inexplicably gain super human knowledge of Chinese martial arts and Bollywood dancing. Romona Flowers pulls out a mallet from her purse.
Afterwards none of the characters mention how absurd and fantastical the combat on screen had been. But it's okay because mentioning how over the top they were will break the illusion of the film's reality. The action is strange but is acceptable because it's normal to the characters.
"Scott Pilgrim vs the World" is a film about a young man coming to find his sense of self worth. It's less of a love story than it is a story about characters pulled together by a peculiar event. There's a point to Pilgrim. It's witty and self-deprecating. It's observational and poignant.
It might just become a cult favorite.
The film isn't perfect by any means but it's all of those wonderful flaws that makes "Scott Pilgrim vs the World" stand out as one of the summer's most unique and post-modern of the bunch. In many ways it kicks ass.
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