Made for 20-somethings, and not all of them!

Rating: 8/10 (27 September 2013)

Scott Pilgrim came out when I was 25 years old. As a child I had a Nintendo and a Sega. I read comics and I played games like Street Fighter, Zelda and Sonic the Hedgehog. Upon watching this movie, all I could notice was how much of my childhood seemed to be referenced, used, and often exploited! But in a good way, a really good way.
Pilgrim is at its heart a coming of age story. Our main character acts like a child, takes no responsibility in his actions and is 100% self-centred. How this makes him a likable hero is largely because he is so human. I often compare him to the legendary "Dude" from The Big Lebowski. Both characters are hugely likable because they remind us so much of ourselves, each of us has moments of selfishness and laziness but like the characters also value our friends and our own morality. Scott, despite cheating on his girlfriend, constantly complaining and letting his band down, remains very appealing because we care about his redemption - and how do the film makers do this? By throwing in literally everything from our childhoods to make his story seem like a supercharged, action packed version of our own experiences of becoming an adult.
There is no logic to this film. Scott despite his mostly normal behaviour is magically blessed with fighting abilities, super strength, endurance and a slew of other super human abilities.. No explanation is given or is needed. No characters in the movie comment on this. Part of this films charm is how it absorbs you into its world of seemingly normal super human feats - all of them very cool, flashy and somehow reminding you of your 10 year old self dreaming of being a ninja!
This is why I can understand people not liking this movie, it was made 100% for people who, as children, grew up with arcade style video games as shown in little gags like Scott's "pee meter" or getting an "extra life". These gags are not subtle or clever, they are face value jokes that the audience is supposed to laugh at. Scott and his friends seemingly amazing powers are basically the imagination of a child and this is anything but a subtle movie. Its large IN YOUR FACE style is very reminiscent of the early 90's when everything was EXTREME! Its references to what was recently called "nerd" culture are very modern. There are little to no references to Star Wars, Star Trek or anything considered classic "nerd" appeal, literally everything is from the late 80's/early 90's onwards, IE its audience's childhood.
For a film that seemed tailor made to suit my viewing demography, naturally I loved it. A particular "nerd" moment for me was when Scott proudly proclaimed "Hey I learned the bass line from Final Fantasy II!" which would mean literally nothing to someone who has never heard of the Final Fantasy video game series. I can only be impressed with this film's decision to appeal to a relatively narrow section of the audience, as so many films go for the catch-all approach and usually end up being terrible.
I can see this film easily becoming a classic, along with the likes of The Big Lebowski and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Those films were received poorly at their release and have become "cult" classics, and I feel as we grow older and more nostalgic this film will become even more appreciated by us 20-somethings, and maybe even a new generation will find its "retro old school-ness" appealing.