This film just dropped on MAX. Please take this opportunity to enjoy a wonderful, unique film! (This is a reprint of a paid newsletter of 2 years ago. To have access to all my newsletters, please consider an upgrade to paid status!)
I love this movie! Just watched it, again, last night. It is filled with video game high-energy at a frenetic pace. I care about the characters and the outcome of their story. The visual style is unique and wild. The film is filled with now famous actors and showcases their early appeal. The script is wild, the directing fantastic and the performances terrific. While it disappointed at the box office upon release, it has grown quite the following today. This is a fun and endearing film that you might have missed!
2010’s ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ is co-written and directed by Edgar Wright. Wright has done some great films along with this classic. He directed 2 other movies that I would recommend; ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Baby Driver’. His personal vision and storytelling style makes this film highly fun. The movie takes on a video game-like quality with graphics and images that supplement the dialogue and story. Along with co-writers Michael Bacall and Bryan Lee O’Malley, Wright has adapted the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels. This is one of the few times that I feel the movie is better than the books.
Michael Cera stars as Scott Pilgrim. He is devastated from a break-up when he dreams of an exciting woman. He soon sees her in real life and tries to get her attention. ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ follows him on his quest to date this vision. After finding and speaking with her, Scott soon learns that he must “defeat in battle” her “7 evil exes” to have a relationship with his dream girl. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays dream girl Ramona. The performances of these two actors go a long way towards making this a sweet story of attraction and desire.
The supporting cast includes many well-known names of today. Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Anna Kendrick, Keiran Culkin, Ellen Wong, Brandon Routh, Thomas Jane and Aubrey Plaza all honed their craft with appearances in ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’. Another important character is indie rock music. There are crazy and great songs throughout.
However, it is the work of director/writer Wright that makes this such a wild and crazy ride. The film is fast-paced, filled with wonderful images and graphics and contains fascinating characters and relationships. There is humor, romance, cartoon fighting, oddball characters and fabulous fun. From the opening 8-bit rendering of the Universal logo to the end credits I highly recomend you give ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’ a try. It is currently on Netflix.
One caveat. The graphics are an important part of the film, but may be difficult for a few viewers. They make the movie feel like playing a video game. That makes it fun for me, but can be difficult for some to follow. Please give it a try and see what you think!
Side note: Chris Evans portrays one of Ramona’s evil exes. His character in the film is an action movie star making a movie. His body doubles from that fake film are portrayed by his real body doubles. This is one of the few times we get to see body/stunt doubles as independent characters instead of not even knowing they are there.
Love this movie.