It isn’t often that I see a movie that I love so completely that I would change nothing about it and that I think absolutely perfect in every way. Scott Pilgrim Vs the World is one such movie. It is also probably going to be one of the most polarizing films in history and while I wholeheartedly recommend it, it is with caveats.

Based on the comic series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim Vs the World tells the story of 22 year old Toronto resident Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), a shiftless slacker who plays bass for a pretty terrible band, lives with his gay roommate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin), and has just started dating 17-year old Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Knives works as a girlfriend for Scott because she thinks he is cool and that his band is awesome. Also he doesn’t have to put out any effort with her. She is easy to hang out with and she placates his ego. His sister, Stacy (Anna Kendricks) and Wallace disapprove and see the relationship for what it is but neither are any more impressed when he becomes enamored with and pursues Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) a  hot girl from New York who has just moved to Toronto to escape a bad relationship. Ramona is way too cool for Scott and he should have no chance but she is the girl of his dreams (literally) and he can’t help but go after her. Sadly he doesn’t finish with Knives first which is the source of his sister and roommate’s ire. Things become even more complicated when Ramona’s first evil ex shows up to challenge Scott to a duel to the death. Scott is clueless because he can’t be bothered to read his email. He discovers that in order to date Ramona he must first defeat her seven evil exes.

What is polarizing about all this isn’t the quirky story but rather how it is told. As director Edgar Wright tells it, this is not the real world as it happens but rather the world as Scott sees it, the story in his head. And the way Scott sees it is that he is the hero of a video game. For those familiar with video games, particularly 8-bit games from the 80’s, there is a lot to love here. The amount of game references is myriad and everything is over-the-top. Beyond video games the film also invokes comic book conventions with visual sound effects cues like ‘Bang!’ appearing superimposed over  the action as well as panel like split screens and the occasional comic illustration thrown in for back story.

The rules of the world follow video games as well. Scott gets extra lives by collecting a one up icon of his face, he levels up by gaining experience, clothing and weapons offer power ups and vanquished enemies explode in a shower of coins. The evil exes all have special powers and Scott himself is a martial arts fighter of fairly extreme skill with an arsenal of physics and reality bending moves culled from Street Fighter and Tekken.

So you have a movie in which pretty much anything can happen and it is presented with the on-screen trappings of comics and video games and if you aren’t someone who has grown up to appreciate these things you are probably going to be left alienated and befuddled. It isn’t necessarily a requirement to have played video games much as a child but a basic knowledge and understanding of them really helps. I can’t imagine what my parents would think of this movie but they watched me play Mario and Street Fighter enough to maybe understand but I doubt it. This is a movie where there is a pretty prominent Mason-Dixon line of enjoyment.

All that being said, I am very squarely in the target audience for this film. I am a big fan of the source material and I have been an avid gamer for literally as long as I can remember beginning with coin-op arcade games all the way up to today so I went in to the film as a Scott Pilgrim fan and I left and even bigger one.

The movie is completely hilarious and the humor is consistent and unrelenting from beginning to end. This is a tag team effort between the enormously clever script (co-written by Wright and Michael Bacall), pitch perfect and firing on all cylinders performances by everyone involved and the expert quick cuts and clever direction from Wright. Given Edgar Wright directed Spaced (a show who’s characters three of my cats are named after), Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz it is really no surprise that the direction here is so good but he has really outdone himself. The things Wright does here are things we’ve never seen before and even the moves and tricks we have seen are done in a unique way. He gives us some of the most hilarious pans and rack focuses I have ever seen and it is testament to his sure hand that he is able to put all of this together.  Even when he is directly quoting the visuals from the comics Wright shows us something new and unique. The attention to detail is tremendous and his skill with pacing is remarkable.

The action scenes and fight choreography are enormously creative and exciting and never get boring as they are all so unique. Each evil ex has his (or her) own abilities and styles of fighting and Scott must perpetually adapt to their skills. None of these enemies go down the same way and none of them go down easy. Some people may tire of the relentless pace of the battles or feel like there are too many battles but I was thoroughly entertained by them and never got tired of watching Scott kick ass and all the different, and amazing, ways he did it.

That brings me to the performances. Michael Cera is often criticized for only being able to play one sort of role but he is absolutely perfect as Scott who is not the normal Cera character at all. Sure, the trailers may make it look like he is but he is not. He is awkward and lazy but he is also kind of an arrogant ass at times allowing Cera to break out of the George Michael Bluth mold once and for all. He also handles the martial arts and action scenes very convincingly and he really kicks a lot of ass.

As for the rest of the cast it is difficult to pick stand outs as they are all great. Ellen Wong brings a sense of sweetness and innocence to Knives that made me feel far more sorry for her than I ever did in the comics. Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Ramona is cool and damaged and makes you believe that she would fall for a guy like Scott in the first place. Chris Evans and Brandon Routh as Evil Exes numbers two and three are perfect in their roles and steal every scene they are in. Allison Pill and Mark Webber as Scott’s bandmates Kim Pine and Steven Stills are terrific particularly when it comes to looking horrified, incredulous, surprised and a whole host of reactions to Scott’s various antics. Jason Schwartzman as evil ex number seven and mastermind of the League of Evil Exes Gideon Graves is perfectly douchey and seems to be having enormous amounts of fun. But it is Kieran Culkin who really shines as he instills Wallace Wells with the perfect blend of smug smarm and warmth. Every moment he is on screen Culkin elevates the already stellar material and stands out in a cast that is absolutely perfect.

Beyond the technical merits of the film, there are people who have said that the story itself is thin and that it lacks resonance and depth. I wholeheartedly disagree. The battling of the exes here is a metaphor for the struggle everyone faces when they date someone. Everyone has a past and often times that past comes back to bite new partners in the ass. You often have to clear all of this baggage to continue with the relationship and find the person underneath. Further, the transition from Knives to Ramona represents Scott having to let go of his immaturity and break out of his comfort zone to move from the easy and insubstantial to the difficult and worthwhile. Through this journey Scott finds what is important in life and comes one step closer to being a mature adult. But only after leveling up and kicking massive ass.

Conclusion [10 out of 10]

If you are the target audience for this then you should see it immediately. It doesn’t really matter if you have read the source material it still works on its own. My cousin attended the same screening I did and had never read the comics. He also is not a Michael Cera fan and he felt it was one of the most amazing movies he had ever seen and could find no fault with it. I concur. If I hadn’t seen this at a midnight show I might have gone right back in to see it again. As it is I can’t wait until I can do just that. If, on the other hand, you are not the target audience and can’t accept video game and comic inspired silliness then you should probably see something more in keeping with your sensibility.