Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World? More Like Scott Pilgrim Vs. An Apathetic Movie-Going Audience Who Unfairly Dismiss Michael Cera!

The summer is over and summer movie season is over, which is sad but these small sadnesses are part of being alive. For the season, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was the movie about which I was most excited. As a fan of the Scott Pilgrim comics, I was intrigued by what Edgar Wright could do with such a fun, relatable property. I psyched myself up for the movie. I figured it would usher in the careers of a bunch of actors and actresses that I enjoyed. I figured that Michael Cera would play a different enough character that people would stop having fits whenever he did something. I figured that people would love it so much, it would blow the combined box office totals of Avatar and Titanic and Aquaman out of the water.

I was wrong. I mean, I was not disappointed with the movie. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was great. At least, I think so. American movie-goers don’t seem to. What’s up with that, America? Get your shit together.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was not very successful from a financial standpoint.  Scott Pilgrim vs. the World itself was awesome! People I know who saw it also said it was good. One person even said that they hate Michael Cera but still loved the movie. Go figure! Lots of people were interested in the movie (or they just said they were interested and they lied! You don’t need to lie about Scott Pilgrim, world!) but they were going to wait to see it.  They might not have been able to see it if its theatrical run was affected by Given that the market to which the film was advertised are pretty technologically savvy, I bet lots of people watched this off of streaming websites that are based in China.

For some reason, people HATE Michael Cera. I mean, I hate some actors but I usually have a reason for that (like when Wilmer Valderrama just started taking interviews where he talked about doing Mandy Moore. Not cool, Wilmer). Maybe it is because people say Cera plays the same role over and over. Maybe it is because people are jealous of Michael Cera living the good life and snuggling with beautiful people. Maybe they are upset that he might have been holding up the Arrested Development movie. I still enjoy him.

Speaking of playing the same role over and over, I think Cera did a good job playing a different character here.  Scott Pilgrim was ditzy and hyper in a way that George Michael, Evan, Nick, Nick Twisp, Francois Dillinger, “Michael Cera”, Oh, and Paulie Bleeker were not (and unlike Year One and Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist and Youth In Revolt and Paper Heart there was no weird mention of his incredible prowess as a lover).  Michael Cera does the same thing that George Clooney does except George Clooney does not get called out for it. He has a certain physical type that has become attached to certain qualities that come out in lots of their roles.

Enough about Michael Cera! Let’s talk about the MOVIE.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was faithful to the comics when it could be. The six volumes have characters, plot points, and gags at which the movie nods but cannot include for practical reasons. I had really hoped that SPvtW would be given the Harry Potter treatment where each volume gets a movie and the final volume gets two movies. Better yet, the LotR model of filming all the movies at once would have been ideal. Just move everyone up to Toronto for a year and make something REAL.

SPvtW takes the highlights of a story that spans a year (and several flashbacks) and puts it in a two week package. This was jarring at times. The emotional changes and attachments of the characters happened in a hurry. Connections and coincidences had to unfold sooner than expected. Luckily, since video games and action are built into the Scott Pilgrim world, the movie’s pace was not too farfetched. Also, the cast was capable of making the pace work, under special order from this guy.

This movie was like night of One Thousand Stars! if I got to pick the stars. And my picks were based on who was going to be in the Scott Pilgrim movie. Here’s a list of who was great!

-Johnny Simmons was great as Young Neil! He was also great in Jennifer’s Body but I digress.

-Aubrey Plaza was great as Julie Powers!

-Ellen Wong was great as Knives Chau!

-Mary Elizabeth Winstead was great as Ramona!

-Kieran Culkin was SUPER GREAT as Wallace Wells!

-Nelson Franklin was great as Comeau!

-Everybody was great!

My only disappointment was that there was not enough Kim Pine. Kim Pine is great! Alison Pill as Kim Pine was great! Here is Kim Pine!

I hope that they are saving Kim Pine for a potential sequel where she leaves Canada and moves to New York and is at first scared and alienated but a young ne’er-do-well from Long Island meets her and she initially finds him strange and disconcerting and she acts antagonistically to him but he eventually cracks her tough shell and they start a band and eventually start a romance and spend lots of their time walking in parks and knowing what’s on each other’s mind and having time for that too and riding bicycles and playing music and watching NBC Thursday night comedy except for Outsourced and maybe baking together and she would punch him lovingly in the arm and call him a dork but she would do it with a smile of caring and he would love her and she would love him and things would be perfect.

I think that would be a good sequel.

Beck, Metric, and Broken Social Scene did a good job with the music. Fake bands have a tendency to seem super fake (Sure, Driveshaft) but Sex Bob-omb and the Clash at Demonhead played their parts as the amateur garage band and the hip Canadian stars well, respectively. Crash and the Boys were also great (if underused) but Broken Social Scene went a different way with their short songs than I expected. When reading the comics, I thought Crash and the Boys played super fast. However, BSS made their quick songs deliberate and blunt. It was not my expectation but it worked well. Here is a song!

Much of this is just gushing about a film that I was predetermined to love. Even if that is the case, I think SPvtW was the most fun I had at the movies this summer. So you should see it! Tell me if I am crazy for liking it. However, full disclosure, I am probably destined not to believe you. I am sorry about that. Scott Pilgrim rules.