It's so intent on being hipster cool that it forgets about keeping it real

Rating: 4/10 (29 August 2010)

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is in his early twenties and has started dating a girl named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) who is still in high school. The news circulates around all of his friends including his gay roommate Wallace (Kieran Culkin) and his nosey sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick). At first Scott enjoys the company of Knives. She watches his band play during their practice sessions. At a party though Scott meets who he believes is the girl of his dreams in Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). He opts to go out with Ramona instead and decides to breakup with Knives. Yet when his band is performing at a gig, Scott is confronted by one of Ramona's seven ex-boyfriends. This leads to a series of video game style fight sequences where Scott must take on each of Ramona's exes, many of which have superhuman powers of their own and defeat them so he can date her properly.
Although Scott Pilgrim vs. the World has been adapted from a 2004 graphic novel series, it is to a fault like a computer game. It's been directed by Edgar Wright, who previously worked on Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). He has chosen to shoot the film with an overwhelming number of visual tricks that look to have come straight from the graphic novel source and the arcades machines. When someone knocks on Scott's door the onomatopoeic words appear on the screen. When Scott kisses Ramona tiny hearts trickle out between them. During the fight scenes icons popup to reveal Scott's high scores, like an arcade game. But Wright seems too excited by these gimmicks and they are used too frequently. Rather than being charming little treats for the audience, they quickly become excessive. The film's rapid pacing is also problematic. As the director and one of the film's screenwriters Wright seems highly intent on moving through the film's opening quarter as quickly as possible, with rapid cutting hurling the audience from one scene to another. Given the speed of the first act and the array of video game aesthetics thrown in, the rest of the film desperately lacks urgency. It fires all its shots at once and then there is no momentum to build upon with any of the fight scenes, leaving the movie at a monotone rate. Scott Pilgrim already knows how to fight too so there is no character development or exposition here either. Each fight sequence feels no more significant than the last. It makes for extremely repetitive viewing, with at least three exes too many and just not enough substance.
Michael Cera has potential as a comic actor but the script here does not allow him to develop anything new beyond his trademark dopey persona. Given how engaging he has been in films like Juno (2007), it is surprising how dislikeable he is here. The way that he treats Knives and gets away with it makes him less appealing as a protagonist. It does not help that Cera is forced to deliver dialogue that is entirely self- conscious in its attempts to be hip. No one has anything interesting or funny to say here. When his sister Stacey asks him if he really thought that he had a future with Ramona he replies thickly: "Like with jetpacks?" There is an overdose of style here and not an ounce of sincerity. A lot of the other performers are wasted too. Anna Kendrick, a talented actress from films like Twilight and Up in the Air (2009), is barely seen and no matter how cool and alternative Winstead's hair looks her character is still underwritten. It's disappointing that the exes fail to reveal anything about her past. Jason Schwartzman has only a small role as the film's central baddie and it would have been nice to see more of him in the film because he is a regularly enjoyable talent on-screen.
Despite the efforts of director Edgar Wright to bombard the audience with an array of visual tricks, there is little by way of substance to be found in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Its computer game counterpart probably soars on its artistic flair but this film disregards too many of the basics of screen writing. It's pacing runs on a single, exhausting note and does not give enough urgency to the repetitive fight sequences. The lack of a substantial narrative here diminishes any possible depth the performances might have had too. It's so intent on being hipster cool that it forgets about keeping it real. Exit game.