It just didn't work for me

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2013)

Much like the infinitely different and otherwise incomparable Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, I get the impression that Scott Pilgrim's biggest failure was in trying to remain too faithful to its existing fans.
The character of Scott may well have worked in the graphic novel – it may even have worked in different hands although that assumption would be unfair on Cera. In movie form though, I just didn't buy it. He is, quite simply, completely unlikeable. I cannot think of a single thing he does to make Ramona like him. At the start he is dating a 17 year old who is going on 13. It's an odd "romance" that tries to speak of the emotional damage he has suffered at the hands of his own ex. In truth though, the wonderfully named Knives is probably the zenith of what Scott could realistically achieve, girlfriend-wise. Then as soon as Ramona turns up with her roller blades and pink hair, he pretends his current girlfriend does not exist and starts to ditch his band mates even though they're nearing a big break.
He is needy and pathetic, and even if Ramona is after a "bird with a broken wing" to look after for a while, she will very soon get very bored of it. There's nothing wrong with a likable nerd - and Cera pulls this off believably in both Juno and Superbad to get the hot girl. But here, he's an unlikeable nerd and the best that will get you is a barely legal fan girl.
Unlike some of the other detractors of this film, I have no issue with the physical appearance of Cera or the fight scenes as they are so clearly fantastical - although I was struggling to find anything allegorical about them. They did seem to be designed more so as people who already spend their entire time in front of the TV could put the controller down for two hours and still get the same experience. I wanted to like it, in fact I've actually watched it twice. There are probably half a dozen laugh at loud moments which, together with a superb turn from Culkin, invoking an early Robert Downey Jr, and the gorgeously punky Winstead, made this film by means a wasted two hours. However the rest of the ideas fall pretty flat. It probably just tried to be too faithful to its source.