Corona | Coming Attractions

I never read Bryan Lee O'Malley's six Scott Pilgrim graphic novels about a twentysomething slacker/hipster. Wasn't my scene, didn't care for it. So, going in to see Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World movie I was fresh -- and feeling a little too old and outside of the target demographic. I knew a little about it but considering that the majority of my online peers seem to be on the first name basis with the director, travelled to the set and had been gushing about what they saw for months, I was one of the few people that I feel was left in the dark about what kind of movie Scott Pilgrim would be.

The good news is that Wright has pushed his evolution as a storyteller further. His work in Hot Fuzz was largely similar to his feature debut, Shaun of the Dead. With Scott Pilgrim, Edgar Wright is able to go even zanier, crazier and juggle 20+ characters in his Generation iPhone tale of guy trying to keep the multicolored hair girl of his dreams. Watching Scott Pilgrim is like drinking concentrated orange juice; there's three movies worth of imagery, sound and action in it. If you like it you'll wind up having to watch it again to pick up on all the stuff that's crammed into it.

I'm not a big fan of Michael Cera because I feel that he's playing the same weak nerd character in everything. That's going on here in Scott Pilgrim too but not to the point that I was already turned off. Cera's actually got a good character arc in the film, one that you don't realize is happening until the final 10 minutes of the movie arrives, and that makes his character more likeable. Mary Elizabeth Winstead's Ramona Flowers, the object of Scott's affections, is a harder character to play as a heroine you emphasize with. Winstead manages to deftly do it, a hard thing to pull off when you consider that Scott gets his ass kicked by her evil seven exes throughout the movie. She's able to project Ramona's tough exterior but also present a believable underside of caring for Scott. My belief that The Thing prequel could be better than I hoped has gone up a notch thanks to Winstead's delivery in Scott Pilgrim.

Cera and Winstead are the movie's main lights but it's the rest of the cast of Scott Pilgrim that give it the full spectrum of colors. My first pick as MVP is Kieran Culkin, on display here as Scott's gay roommate Wallace Wells. Culkin gets a great assortment of comedic moments as the straight guy of the film (yeah, ironic, I know), Scott's best friend and confidant. As Knives Chau, the 17-year-old girlfriend of Scott and biggest fan of his band Sex Bob-omb, Ellen Wong has the third and likely best character arc in the film. Scott Pilgrim starts off as a pretty typical guy-finds-girl love story and then ends by showing a surprisingly higher level of maturity and character growth than most romantic comedies dare to give their audiences, and that goes for Wong's character, the wronged woman in the love story, too.  Here's a movie about hipsters that gives a message of personal development, of advancing the maturity of yourself but not by mocking the generation its about, even though its full of video game fighting, superpower battles and insanity.

Speaking of the battles, they're all great. Each of Ramona's seven exes get their moment and Wright isn't afraid to give equal screen time to lesser known faces (Satya Bhabha as Matthew Patel, Keita Saitou and Shota Saito as the Katayanagi brothers) along with the guys we screen nerds instantly recognize (Chris Evans and Brandon Routh -- and hey Brandon, nice to see you back in movies). And the battles are epic, each different in the way that they're fought and finished.

Canadian toonies and loonies on screen? Hell yeah! Edgar Wright has made a movie set in Toronto that the rest of Canada will like. For Torontonians, Scott Pilgrim will just give them more confidence that they live in the center of Canada's world.

This is going to be a movie that will find its audience, regardless of how it fares opening weekend and against The Expendables and Eat Pray Love. It's going to be quoted by the kids that are late teenagers and college aged for the next decade. I see Scott Pilgrim being more embraced by the hipster and genre crowd than by the video gamers that know why there's 8-bit graphics in the movie. Would it be great for Scott Pilgrim to earn $40 million dollars in its opening weekend? Of course it would, and it would help Edgar Wright out with his career possibilities. But regardless of the final box office performance of Scott Pilgrim, Edgar Wright is a guy that's going to be fine no matter what genre or size of movie he's making. If Marvel Studios has any vision they'd remove any and all obstacles blocking Wright from making his version of Ant-Man. Get it started soon, Marvel.

I liked Scott Pilgrim but drinking that concentrated O.J. with your eyes, I realize that it's a taste that won't be drunk up by everyone. Those that will groove to it will want to see it a second time. Whether that's the kind of person you are or aren't, only you can decide, and if you don't know then the only way that you're going to find out is by seeing it yourself.

Review Score: 79 / 100