Scott Pilgrim is an amateur bassist looking for love in the magical land of Canada, when he isn't hopping from rock club to rock club catching up on the latest indie underground music. After a particularly depressing break-up, Scott rebounds with a 17 year old, but soon meets the girl of his dreams literally. Ramona is a rollerblading punk chick who finds instant attraction with Scott, but in order for them to be together, Scott must first defeat her 7 evil exes. Scott, who is rather timid and meek under most circumstances, finds himself fighting for love in a world that is reacting in a very video game like manner.
Michael Cera started out as a promising upstart comedic actor, but he has been circling the drain with a series of way too similar roles. While Scott Pilgrim was not conceived as a "Cera-esque" character, I feel he was forced into the mold. The cast is comprised of very competent individuals, but the script provides far too much melodrama to connect, except for Ramona. Ramona not just literally but also figuratively skates through the picture never living up to the "she rocks" reputation that Scott's peers seem to credit her with. She has zero personality and makes almost no emotional progression despite the fact that it is her skeletons in the closet that are attacking, not Scott's. While each scene has an endearing sense of chaos, the scene to scene transition was sloppy severely hurting the pacing of the film. Edgar Wright's usual brand of subtle humor is substituted with in-your-face site gags and softball laughs. For his first attempt without the pinpoint delivery of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, I hoped he would do better.
Of course, there are bright spots. Michael Cera landed a few well-timed jokes. I appreciated the use of '90s retro style and garage band rock (somehow its indie rock nowadays), even if it is far too associated with hipsters (a subgroup I have very little tolerance for). The credit sequence felt very nostalgic with the likes of SLC Punk and Empire Records even though visually they have little in common, it was more about the energy and music they conveyed. The video game characteristics peppered through the film were a welcome addition to what could have been a very bland film without them. Unfortunately, it became distracting that every sound effect neeeded a visual counterpart. Two bright spots in the cast were Kieran Culkin and Johnny Simmons. Wallace and Young Neil have just the right amount of deadpan and goofiness respectively to break up the underwhelming line reading.
Scott Pilgrim vs The World is an ambitious attempt at mixing geek chic mediums, but all the ingredients never blend together to make an appetizing cinematic experience.
4/10
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