Saturday, August 14, 2010

Scott Pilgrim vs the World

Movie name: Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Year of release: 2010
Director: Edgar Wright
Stars: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Alison Pill, Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh, Ellen Wong, Johnny Simmons, Mark Webber, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Schwartzman, Mae Whitman, Chris Evans, Brie Larson
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Romance, Fantasy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7

Synopsis:Edgar Wright is a young British film-maker who has made a name for himself with two good films, namely "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz", both great satires/comedies where the visual style is unique and where the writing is also impeccable. "Scott Pilgrim" finds him adapting a graphic novel and Wright holds nothing in terms of visual storytelling, bringing the quirkiness of the graphic novel and the feeling of young love hand in hand. The film follows the story of Scott Pilgrim, a young man who plays in a band, has romantic problems and lives with a gay roommate who is far savvier than Scott himself. Scott starts dating a young high school girl as a way to forget a previous breakup with another girl who also had a band and who left him when her band became well know. When Scott goes to a party, he meets Ramona Flowers, with whom he becomes smitten - when they start dating, Scott suddenly realizes he must deal with her 7 evil ex-boyfriends.
Edgar Wright wraps this whole teen angst story with a visual style and richness of characterization that makes the film fly by. Wright smartly adds the tone of a video game to the film, which makes each opponent that Scott battles, an added layer of comedy/irony, that permeates the film through and through. The comedy and nonsense is crucial to this story - the levity that it gives to the film makes the whole "young love" drama, feel lighter and quirky. The actors are well cast, with Michael Cera once again reprising his deadpan style, but Anna Kendrick and Kieran Culkin walk away with the film - their characters are smart and in their brief iterations, channel a lot more than mere superficiality. A good film worth watching!

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