Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010) Review

“You’ll pay for your crimes against humanity!”

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

It can get hard to find what you want in adulthood but once you do, the results could be worthwhile.


PLOT


Based on the series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim vs the World follows the titular 23 year old who lives in Toronto with his gay roommate Wallace Wells. He is the bass player for his indie band, Sex Bob-Omb, with members that include: his ex girlfriend Kim Pine who plays the drums, Stephen Stills who is lead singer/guitarist and his roommate Neil Nordegraf who is an understudy. Having gone through a rough breakup with Natalie V. ‘Envy’ Adams, who’s lead singer of her own band, The Clash at Demonhead, Scott now dates a Chinese 17 year old named Knives Chau who instantly supports his aspirations for the band’s success. Despite this, the likes of Wallace, the band and even Pilgrim’s sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick) disapprove of the relationship. Things then take a turn when Scott starts pursuing an American delivery girl named Ramona Flowers who he dreamt of. He first officially meets her at a party hosted by local acquaintance, Julie Powers, who suggests to not try pursuing her since she had her own bad breakup. He ignores her advice and pursues her anyway, but doesn’t break up with Knives yet. When he invites Flowers to a battle of the bands event at the ‘Rockit’ that Sex Bob-Omb participates, he gets attacked by her first ex boyfriend, Matthew Patel. He had previously emailed him that he fight him for Ramona’s heart, but Pilgrim had skimmed it, unaware of the stakes. Luckily, he is able to defeat him by using a cymbal to knock him off balance punch him so hard that he dissolves into coins. Shortly after, Ramona confesses he must defeat all total of seven past exes to date her. Only after this does he break up with Knives, which she quickly blames Flowers for and swears to win him back by becoming more like her. Scott then faces the second ex, famous actor & skateboard junkie Lucas Lee. When he doesn’t beat him in combat, he tricks him to attempt a grind on an icy railing. After this, Sex Bob-Omb is asked to open for Envy’s band, Clash at Demonhead, where he meets her current boyfriend, Todd Ingram, who was Ramona’s third ex. When he strikes Knives out of annoyance, he has his standoff with Scott and reveals to have psychic powers off of being vegan. Unable to beat him in combat or a bass battle, Pilgrim is able to outsmart him as well by tricking him to drink half and half. This causes the Vegan Police (Thomas Jane & Clifton Collins Jr.) to suddenly appear and take away his powers, giving the protagonist the opportunity to defeat him with a fatal head-butt. Hee later takes Ramona to an after party to cope with the pressure of facing the League of Evil Exes, but doesn’t get a chance yet when he meets her only ex girlfriend, Roxy Ritcher. Ramona does help him fight her, but it is Scott that defeats her simply by poking the back of her knees, causing her to climax into coins. When he grows visibly annoyed of what he has to do to be with her, Ramona prefers calling off their relationship. That doesn’t stop with the assist of Sex Bob-Omb defeat the 5th and 6th ex, techno twins Kyle & & Ken Katayagni, via battle of the bands event, amp vs. amp. As this gives him an extra life, Scott tries patching things up with Ramona, but she seems to reunite with the seventh and latest ex Gideon Graves, the record executive that’s been sponsoring the events. He offers Sex Bob-Omb a record deal and to perform at his venue, Chaos Theater, but it results in Neil taking over as bassist when Scott quits. Not wanting to give up at this point, Scott challenges Gideon for Ramona, admitting he is in love with her. This earns him the ‘Power of Love’ and although he holds his own, Knives interferes which forces him to admit he cheated on both ladies. Gideon takes this opportunity to stab Scott from behind. Due to his spare life though, he is able to recover in limbo and Ramona is able to confess she cut ties with him for his protection because Gideon implanted a mind control device on her. With his 1-up, he makes peace with his band, apologizing for abruptly dumping Kim in high school, telling Steven the band is better without him and promises to address Neil by his first name rather than the pointless nickname ‘Young Neil’. He chooses to fight for himself as he faces Gideon, earning him the ‘Power of Self Respect’. At the same time, his apology towards both ladies for his infidelity give him the opportunity to defeat G-Man for good, as Knives would team up with him to secure victory. While Ramona would be free from her last ex for good, Scott would face his darker half, Nega-Scott, but would quickly hit it off without the need to fight anymore. Although he prefers trying again with Knives, the film ends with recommending to go after Ramona again, which he does.


THOUGHTS


2010 was an era where Redbox was the first true replacement of the rental service, Blockbuster, before instant streaming got severe as time went on for the entertainment industry. Through this platform, Scott Pilgrim vs the World was my introduction to Director Edgar Wright before seeing the rest of his movies and this was the best way to go about it because this has been so damn fun since my first watch. After all the times I’ve rented this movie before eventually purchasing my own physical copy, it never comes to disappoint me because that is how much fun I have here. It’s a graphic novel adaptation, yet it has the energy of a video game with ecstatic visual effects that make that emphasis. The feeling backs up with martial artist Brad Allan developing great choreography for each scene and Bill Pope’s cinematography only pulls you into the exhilaration each time. On top of that, the editing by both Jonathan Amos & Paul Machliss do succeed in developing sharp editing you would expect from a game or a comic book. From the bass battle to seeing spiritual Kaiju appear in the amp vs. amp battle are just casual moments in showing how exciting movies can be when creativity is off the chain. In an instant, the soundtrack is as much of a banger as you’d expect from a James Gunn movie because you’re hooked with each song that plays by various band from the likes of Plumtree, Beck and Metric. With all these pros, the first thing that brings me back the most is that Wright masters such a great script with cowriter Michael Bacall that the comedy is extremely effective and the delivery from the whole cast nail each line they got in their hands. A lot of the best laughs for me go to the supporting cast who all of which made the most of their given time. You’ll likely be slapping your knees to how over the top short tempered the way both Satya Bhabha & Mae Whitman portray Patel & Roxy respecitvely, Chris Evans being too cocky for his own good as Lucas Lee that it costs him his life, Aubrey Plaza getting so acerbic & outspoken as Julie that her F bombs get censored, or Kieran Culkin make Wallace way too snarky of a friend that he’ll steal somebody’s man in a heartbeat. Even Sex Bob-Omb get to stand out in their given time with Mark Webber embracing Stephen to be most neurotic, Alison Pill going all in with Kim’s misanthropy complex and Johnny Simmons showing Neil to be the ideal fanboy that slowly breaks free from anxiousness when the opportunity is given. Hell, I’m still laughing with Bill Hader narrating how heartbroken Scott’s breakup with Envy went. Having said that, the main reason this movie has been able to stand the test the time because in its way, so much is told behind the comedy: Our past relationships affect the current and when guarded of not getting hurt, we don’t want our current partners to compare themselves to the past. Be happy with who chooses you now and stop measuring yourself against them because the past doesn’t really matter anymore. Defeating an evil ex here isn’t really about being better, but instead being able to forget them and be confident in yourself. This is the exact dilemma between both Scott Pilgrim and Ramona who deal with their breakups differently as they try to find themselves again. Michael Cera was officially on top of the world in 2007 having done Juno and Superbad back to back. It felt like a repeat in 2010 having also done Youth in Revolt and when it comes down to it, Scott is growing to be his signature role because you relate to his social awkwardness, wanting to figure himself out while unintentionally remaining oblivious until the signs are align. Considering how stone cold Brie Larson portrayed Envy, pursuing Knives was his rebound and he sure knew it because he didn't know how to cope with what felt the first breakup of his life. At the same time, Ellen Wong was still likable as Knives because you definitely saw how genuine she was in being so sweet and devoted to what was her first love. She's figuring it all out on how to feel these things, whereas he doesn't know how to feel and that instantly changes when he meets the dream girl. Mary Elizabeth Winstead owns it as the dream girl that is Ramona because like Scott, you just become enamored with her independence that makes her cool. And I think these two easily hit it off for that similar vulnerability. Ramona was dating guys that had that edge she was used to and wanted a change up due to leaving a bad trace. Coming to Canada was her clean slate and it was easy for her to reciprocate with Scott because he was genuinely nice unlike the rest before him, hence trying to fight Roxy for him. He doesn't want to define her for her past, but he sure had to express the stress when given the chance. While Brandon Routh had his arrogance up his sleeve as Todd, it was obviously always gonna be Gideon that was the baddest of exes. Jason Schwartzman was so on point in making him the most smug of villains because he's too over confident in manipulating his way into everything. He only took interest in Ramona when she walked away and didn't want to accept that he was at fault, thus choosing to radicalize the world as she knew it. Scott does redeem himself when saying he'll fight for him because he knew he was losing confidence at every given second trying to put others before himself. Had he not done that, he would've not accepted he was wrong creating a pointless love triangle that saves his life in the long run. And it did leave me a big smile that he talks it out with Nega Scott because he knew he was tired of fighting and would rather take a step back than forward which thankfully worked out. Although there is an alternate ending where he chooses to start over with Knives properly, I for one prefer the theatric conclusion of choosing Ramona because had he not met her, he would've not had the journey that helped him become a better person. Knives is the one who encourages that too because she knows she'll never make him feel that way even if she were to try, and she’s got her life ahead of her so it’s best to not settle so soon. Considering that there is an extended series of graphic novels following this decision, I'm sure those two will have their own spin of fun side by side. I know this movie will forever rock my world, but there’s still a handful of things that haven’t made sense upon re-watching. Like I know Julie has it out for Scott, but she’s overreacting calling Ramona the coolest girl in her party when she already left and no one other than Scott was talking to her. And if he messed up that two player ninja game, it should’ve been Knives to go up against Nega-Ninja in the game at least. Hell, it feels out of character that Scott didn’t know about Gideon when Knives and Steven did. If you’re in a band, you gotta know the record executives. Next thing, how exactly would Lucas confront Scott if he didn’t attend the public shoot? Would he track him down just like Patel & Roxy? If they’re a league, there’s got to be a plan they share with Gideon. Also, it’s so odd that Scott not only flags Stacey down to get advice he was hoping for, but doesn’t spot Ramona & Envy as soon as he walked in. She’s the only girl in Toronto with colored hair, so you can’t miss that. Scott also doesn’t have to stay for Envy’s show if he’s so heartbroken of her dumping him for Todd. Todd could’ve tracked him down too if he wanted too. If Envy arranged this to happen on behalf of Gideon, that should’ve been more clear. Other than that, this movie still rocks. In conclusion, Scott Pilgrim vs the World is up there with one of the many greats from 2010 for being at its most unconventional in exactly how fun a movie can be and if that’s the kind of experience you’re looking for, see this now.