Surprisingly good

Rating: 8/10 (22 March 2011)

I know this movie flopped, and frankly I don't see how the studio thought that this was ever going to be a mass market hit: the target audience is really quite narrow. However, I thought it was warm, heartfelt, and funny, with a nice dose of kick-ass. It helps to know something about the source material and about the video-game references, mostly from the 80s to early 90s. A common criticism leveled at the movie was that the characters were underdeveloped; I think that this was intentional, given the scope of the movie. The characters mostly functioned as archetypes, avatars in a video game. No one expects emotional depth from a video game.
Michael Cera - yes, yes his range is nonexistent - does a nice job with Scott Pilgrim, and displays some more pronounced emotions than he did in the past. His costars outshone him on most occasions, especially Kieran Culkin as Wallace, Scott's roommate. Snarky wit with more heartfelt undertones - Wallace is undoubtedly my favorite character in the film. Ellen Wong (Knives Chau) invested a very limited character with some depth and real emotion, especially at the close of the film. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Ramona Flowers) functions as the epitome of an object of hipster male desire and adequately fulfills that role, but she wasn't tremendously appealing to me.
The fight scenes were perhaps a little too long, but always very interesting visually. The effects were very well done. The soundtrack was amazing, both the songs and the score and enhanced the action greatly. All in all, the movie was tremendously fun and held my interest throughout. I was very pleased.