Scott Pilgrim is a 22 year old loser dating a high school girl, and playing in his nerdy garage band “Sex Bob-bomb” when he suddenly meets his mysterious dream girl Norma Flowers. Scott quickly strikes up a relationship, only to realize that in order to date Norma, he must defeat seven of her evil exes in battle.
The film is designed to be lighthearted and fun, and at its best moments it does succeed at this. However, the film’s plot is so sparse and disjointed it is difficult to have a lot of emotional investment in the characters or story. It all is just blur of ridiculous fights, goofy pop culture references, and video game humor. If this is all your looking for, you will be in for a good time, but I was constantly wondering why Scott found Norma so special that he had to fight an army of exes. Michael Cera as Pilgrim is his usual awkward bumbling self. He has been playing this angle since Arrested Development, but he is the king of this type of character and he works in the film.
What makes Scott Pilgrim bearable is its fast moving stylized visuals that play that reference old school arcade video games and comics. Scott defeats each of his adversaries and turns them into coins and points, and comic style sound effect words are constantly appearing on screen. This visual style gives the movie a lot of style and makes it reminiscent of a living cartoon in much the same way as 2008’s magnificent Speed Racer. Without these fun gimmicks, this movie would be little more than another Nick and Norah’s Infinite Play List.
Scott Pilgrim is a interesting watch, and fans of the comics and of quirky comedies may enjoy this film quite a bit. However, I found the movie ultimately unfunny and by the halfway point I was growing tired of the constant pop culture and video game references, followed by repetitive fights that seemed to be motivated by little else than the movies own silly premise of a guy fighting his girlfriends exes like they were a video game boss. By the end credits I wasn’t wishing for a bonus stage
5/10
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