Film: Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

Another day in Hollywood, another adaptation of a popular cult graphic novel, and with Scott Pilgrim Vs The World comes Edgar Wright's (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) first foray into the glitz and glamour of Stateside studio film-making. A friend of all things genre, Wright has stayed true to the source material in blowing open the doors of the teen romance story with a blast of kung fu and computer game cliches (or homages for the less cynical).

To the plot-mobile!


Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), is a 22 year old bass player in Sex Bob-omb, and lives with his gay room-mate Wallace (Kieran Culkin). He's dating high-schooler Knives Chao (Ellen Wong) and slacking his way through life, playing kung fu computer games, when he meets the pink-haired legend that is Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). He falls madly in love, and squirms his way into her pants before she reveals to him the important news that might put a spanner in their relationship works; that in order for them to date, Scott must first fight, and defeat, her seven evil ex-boyfriends. Count it, seven. And so the movie continues, with Scott dealing with the usual teen paranoia and awkwardness whilst simultaneously engaging in fist-flinging, backflipping, wall-busting combat with a slew of Ramona's exes.

A cast of hip young things and a springy neo-punk soundtrack make this a film aimed majoritively at younger audiences - boys in their teens for whom retro means the original grey box GameBoy and girls with short hair and insatiable crushes on Fall Out Boy - but there is much to admire in the verve and style, the blistering action and consistent wit, that Wright has brought to the screen.

Cera as Scott is just as Cera as ever, and soon his shtick will wear thin, but this is a film in which the wide-eyed mumbling is paired with a quite exhilerating array of kicks and tricks, spins and slaps. The cliched "girl of my dreams" romance is a bit of a damp squib, and Winstead's Ramona is cool in an arrogant, dislikeable way than a cool aloof fashion, but Wright's attention in this picture lies heavily on the visual and referential, on the over-whelmingly energetic action sequences and the use of gaming symbolism - the shower of coins that burst from a defeated opponent or the glowing bar that decreases as Scott takes a leak. With this focus comes sacrifice in story and character, and the tied up ending is a mess (a result, perhaps, of the comic series on which it is based still having not finished itself...), but this is a cult flick from the start, and never dreams of having great emotional or symbolic weight.

Outside of the flat love story, and when the screen is not being burnt through by chop socky, there are some fine comic performances from Kieran Culkin as Scott's predatory gay housemate, and surprisingly by Chris Evans (as one of Ramona's exes), whose talent for funny has flickered occasionally amidst his superhero performances as the human torch in Fantastic Four, but here shows itself as being more than capable of stealing a scene. Brandon Routh (known elsewhere as "the new Superman"), as well, makes a good tongue-in-cheek appearance a psychic vegan enemy, and future stars (you heard it here) Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza put in sterling comedic support work.

Overall, this is a hell of a ride, but no great marker in 21st century cinema. It is all gloss, and lacks some of the heart of Wright's previous work, but what it lacks in emotion it makes up for in style, energy and bravado, and does the comic strip proud with its wit and cool. Wright will no doubt do bigger and better things in Hollywood, but for a start this an excellent warning shot to the industry that shows off his talents as a keen observer of the past two cultural decades, as well as a refreshing cinematic voice.