Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

In case you couldn't tell from reading the rest of this blog I'm a big video game nerd. And while I didn't really grow up with the arcade era that Scott Pilgrim hearkens back to, it doesn't mean I can't completely and utterly fall in love with this movie.

Scott Pilgrim is a 23 year old bass player in a band called the Sex Bob-Ombs, who have never known the taste of success despite a lot of heart. He starts out dating a high-schooler named Knives Chau, despite the constant flack he gets from his friends. However, one day he has a dream about a mysterious woman on roller skates, then sees her in real life at a party, learns her name is Ramona Flowers, and immediately falls for her despite her complete lack of interest in him. Yet despite that she still starts to hang out with Scott and the romance begins to bloom. But before you know it, the shit hits the fan as juggling both Knives and Ramona, Scott learns that in order to keep dating Ramona he has to battle and defeat her 7 evil exes, most of whom are conveniently in town for the battle of the bands.

What follows is brightly colored, flashy, absolutely over-the-top and more than fun. Often Scott unwittingly ends up in these battles to the death while trying to manage the ups and downs of dating Ramona or breaking up with Knives or just trying to live his day to day life. I don't even really know how to explain it, but this movie manages to strike the perfect balance between romantic comedy, action movie, and homage to the arcade. The first evil ex shatters into a thousand coins when Scott defeats him, which Scott then picks up and realizes he can use for bus money. The whole tone of the movie has this kind of hyper-surreal feel to it, and somehow it all just works really well.

Michael Cera is his usual nerdy nice self, which is fine since it just works so perfectly for the character. Really every actor and actress really hits their mark, but the stars of this show are the evil exes. Besides the twins who we literally hear nothing from, they are all hilarious. From the very first fireball throwing, demon hipster chick summoning ex all the way down to the always wonderful Jason Schwartzman as the leader of the exes, every single one stole their scenes. It was just so obvious that they themselves were having a great time that it was impossible not to enjoy it right along with them.

The only problem I have with Scott Pilgrim is that it's so flashy, fun and fast paced that it kind of forgets to have substance under it. I went through the entire movie loving every eccentric bite sized scene, but left it feeling a little hungry for more, especially after the kind of cliche ending. **SPOILER ALERT** Of course I understand why Scott ends up with Ramona. After all it's like Knives says, he's spent all this time fighting for her he should go get her. Yet, I also felt like they really pinpointed in the final battle how Scott and Knives were right for each other and Ramona was maybe not the right choice for him. Personally I just think it would've been a much more compelling ending to let Ramona go. **END SPOILER**

Scott Pilgrim is basically the epitome of style over substance, and yet the style that's there is so unique, interesting and FUN that I can't really fault it that. One thing's for sure; I'll definitely be going back and watching this one again and again.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World gets a 9/10.