More wish-fulfilment for nerds.

Rating: 3/10 (24 June 2012)

My nerd credentials are reasonably high—I have a comic book collection; I go to movie conventions; I possess one or two T-shirts bearing pop culture slogans and graphics; and I obsessively review cult films on IMDb—but I'm still nowhere near qualified enough to connect with Scott Pilgrim vs The World, a film that proudly enters the realm of the über-nerd, a plane of existence where Manga is king, Japanese vinyl toys are objects of desire, retro video games are cool, web programmers are gods, and designing and building your own PC is the mark of a true man.
The hero of this film is a pale, scrawny wimp, the kind of guy whose awkward appearance would normally condemn him to a lifetime of self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy. In director Edgar Wright's nerd-centric universe, however, Scott Pilgrim is an aspirational figure: his entire existence is played out in video game/graphic-novel mode, with FX lettering and motion lines accompanying his every move; he's a bass player in a rock band; he possesses awesome fighting skills; and seriously cute/smoking hot girls find him irresistible (he even dates the gorgeous Mary Elisabeth Winstead—talk about punching above your weight!!!). In short, he is the ultimate geek icon.
For those who closely identify with the guys in The Big Bang Theory, this film is going to be the stuff of dreams, the ultimate fantasy come true, thus earning itself a dedicated fan-base; in time, it might even make its money back from the lucrative 'dweeb dollar'. But to anyone who has even the vaguest semblance of a life within the real world, it's endless geek subculture references, heavily stylised and often surreal action, incessant use of game-speak, and elevation of obnoxious loser to hero status will seriously grate on the nerves.