Scott Pilgrim v The World is the Sex-Bob-Omb!

Rating: 9/10 (27 July 2010)

I was lucky enough to get into one of the Scott Pilgrim vs The World screenings at the San Diego Comic Con (the 3rd screening Saturday night specifically). Thought I'd chime in and give a review. I first need to start off by saying a movie like this was tailor made for a guy like me. I've grown up playing video games (Zelda, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter, Mario, etc.), I used to be big into comics, and I loved Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I also am a huge Arrested Development fan, and even though Michael Cera is type cast, you gotta love yourself some George Michael. And Superbad is awesome. And I'm a fan of a lot of the other cast members too. ANYWAY, with a background like that it would be hard to not like a film like Scott Pilgrim.
On top of that, the crowd at the Balboa Theater was pretty much filled with like minded people, 1,800 comic con nerds/geeks/fan boys/girls. All of whom had been waiting in eagerly in line for hours for the screening. And on TOP OF THAT, Edgar Wright came out to introduce the film and the entire cast of the movie (Michael Cera, Mary E Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman's mustache, Ellen Wong, Satya Bhabha, Bill Hader (he does the voices), Mark Webber, Mae Whitman (her?) and...I think that's it, I might be missing someone, idk). They all came out one by one throwing swag into the crowd getting everyone even more excited (M. Cera threw out a mask of a monkey which my friend caught, I believe he was wearing this on the Con floor incognitosneaky).
So, suffice it to say that they warmed the already geeked out crowd up pretty well. And when you get a group like that together it can cloud your judgment, for example when the Phantom Menace when it came out I saw it filled with a bunch of Star Wars honks dressed up and waving light sabers. The movie seemed awesome at the time, but it was more just the atmosphere and nostalgia (we all know that movie sucked). After a second or third viewing you come to realize that. So that is the WARNING on my review. It could possible by skewed. However, I am going to go out on a limb and say that even though the atmosphere at my viewing was amazing, it did not cloud my judgment and that this movie truly does KICK ASS!
From the second the Universal logo game out in 8-bit with a midi style theme song I knew I was going to enjoy what I was watching. SPvTW starts off strong and doesn't really let off the gas. And that's part of its charm. The whole movie has ADD. It understands what type of movie it is and doesn't take itself too serious, quite the opposite in fact, like when the Seinfeld theme song kicks on out of nowhere with accompanying laugh track, or how the exes turn into a pile of coins when they are defeated. This movie has a lot going on, from outrageous fight scenes, awesome music to amazing visual effects. It's really quite ambitious. And Edgar pulls it off.
I'm sure you all know the plot (Scott hearts girl, much defeat exes, gets to pick up coins) so I won't go too much into that. The acting I thought was really good. The actors all have great chemistry and I Keiran Culkin steals some scenes (and boyfriends) as Scott's gay roommate. Michael Cera isn't too overly Michael Cera in this movie and I actually believe that the character could score a Ramona Flowers played by Mary E Winstead. I think this could be Michael's best role.
What surprised me the most is how cool the fight scenes where. They were very fun, especially the fight between Ramona and Roxy played by Mae Whitman (her?). And I loved how people just burst into outrageous Street Fighter-esqe fights and no one really thinks it is odd.
OK, this review is getting long so I'm going to just start listing off awesome parts – Brandon Routh as dumb vegan ex = so funny, Zelda song during dream sequence = win, Final Fantasy bass line = awesome, Beck doing a song in the film = sweet, Jason Schwartzman wielding an 8-bit Katana blade = badass, Soundtrack = a must download.
Really, this movie is just stuffed to the brim with fun. Epic fun. I've never seen a movie like it to be honest. So despite being catered to by the cast and director (they came out after the show as well, this time with Thomas Jane). I believe I would have enjoyed the movie either way. I'm excited to see it again when it comes out with a normal crowd to see how they react. I'm also really curious to see how some older critics view the film as this is definitely aimed to the 30 and under crowd. I have a feeling some aren't going to get it.