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Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Take the teen romantic comedies of the 1980's, shake them up, and put them inside a video game and what you get is a cinematic assault on the senses called Scott Pilgrim vs the World, an endlessly imaginative piece of movie entertainment from the creative forces behind Shaun of the Dead.
The title character in this 2010 comedy is a 22 year old bass player in a garage band who loves garlic bread and sleeps in the same bed with his gay roommate. As the story opens. we find Scott being barraged with praise and advice regarding his new relationship with a 17 year old high school student named Knives. Before his relationship with Knives really begins, Scott finds himself obsessed with a girl named Ramona Flowers. However, before he can be with Ramona, he must do battle with her seven ex-boyfriends.
Director and co-screenwriter Edgar Wright has fashioned this bizarre story from a graphic novel where the story becomes so not what the film is about. The story is presented in the form of a life-sized video game where the central character has to progress from one level to another in order to win the girl of his dreams. The canvas of this cinematic video game provides detailed descriptions of the characters, often accompanied by backstories and video documentation of what most of the central characters are feeling or acting upon. The accustomed fourth wall of film becomes the rules that Scott must follow in order to get what he wants.
Dialogue is often duplicated on the screen, providing instructions for the viewer and for Scott. Instructions that move at a lightning speed and don't allow the viewer anytime to figure out exactly what they are experiencing. What we end up experiencing is an explosively imaginative visualization of Scott's battle for the lady he loves in the form of individual plateaus our hero must battle and each battle with each ex is presented in a different way. One of Ramona's ex is the romantic lead in a Bollywood musical and another is a sexy action movie star who, instead of battling Scott himself, sends in his stunt doubles to do the work for him.
Wright refuses to go by the rules here and gets away with it because he keeps things moving at such a lightning pace that I didn't even feel the film's almost two-hour running time. The film is a technical wonder, featuring dazzling art direction, cinematography, visual effects, and editing, that will have even the most proficient techno-geek scratching his head in wonder. We even have the fight audio bubbles, similar to what happened during the fight scenes on the old Batman TV series.
The film is rich with once and future stars, headed by Michael Cera, who lights up the screen in the title role. Mary Elizabeth Winstead impresses with her icy Ramona Flowers and Kieran Culkin steals every scene he's in as Scott's gay roommate. Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, Jason Schwartzmann, and Allison Pill make the most of their roles, but it is the demented imagination of Edgar Wright that is the real star here.
Take the teen romantic comedies of the 1980's, shake them up, and put them inside a video game and what you get is a cinematic assault on the senses called Scott Pilgrim vs the World, an endlessly imaginative piece of movie entertainment from the creative forces behind Shaun of the Dead.
The title character in this 2010 comedy is a 22 year old bass player in a garage band who loves garlic bread and sleeps in the same bed with his gay roommate. As the story opens. we find Scott being barraged with praise and advice regarding his new relationship with a 17 year old high school student named Knives. Before his relationship with Knives really begins, Scott finds himself obsessed with a girl named Ramona Flowers. However, before he can be with Ramona, he must do battle with her seven ex-boyfriends.
Director and co-screenwriter Edgar Wright has fashioned this bizarre story from a graphic novel where the story becomes so not what the film is about. The story is presented in the form of a life-sized video game where the central character has to progress from one level to another in order to win the girl of his dreams. The canvas of this cinematic video game provides detailed descriptions of the characters, often accompanied by backstories and video documentation of what most of the central characters are feeling or acting upon. The accustomed fourth wall of film becomes the rules that Scott must follow in order to get what he wants.
Dialogue is often duplicated on the screen, providing instructions for the viewer and for Scott. Instructions that move at a lightning speed and don't allow the viewer anytime to figure out exactly what they are experiencing. What we end up experiencing is an explosively imaginative visualization of Scott's battle for the lady he loves in the form of individual plateaus our hero must battle and each battle with each ex is presented in a different way. One of Ramona's ex is the romantic lead in a Bollywood musical and another is a sexy action movie star who, instead of battling Scott himself, sends in his stunt doubles to do the work for him.
Wright refuses to go by the rules here and gets away with it because he keeps things moving at such a lightning pace that I didn't even feel the film's almost two-hour running time. The film is a technical wonder, featuring dazzling art direction, cinematography, visual effects, and editing, that will have even the most proficient techno-geek scratching his head in wonder. We even have the fight audio bubbles, similar to what happened during the fight scenes on the old Batman TV series.
The film is rich with once and future stars, headed by Michael Cera, who lights up the screen in the title role. Mary Elizabeth Winstead impresses with her icy Ramona Flowers and Kieran Culkin steals every scene he's in as Scott's gay roommate. Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, Jason Schwartzmann, and Allison Pill make the most of their roles, but it is the demented imagination of Edgar Wright that is the real star here.