Relationships are never easy because they rest on the idea of flawed people forming an ideal. People are broken creatures who bring baggage into everything they do. One person's burdens become another's. Success in such endeavors requires acceptance of such. Now to talk about a movie where bad guys explode into coins. 

I joke but Scott Pilgrim Vs The World is a study in relationships between flawed, broken people that is out of its mind. At every moment we see such sights as visual sound effects, surreal transitions, a foul mouthed chew out complete with censor bars, vegan police, and of course, the most surreal fights ever. This film is a love letter to video games like Mortal Kombat and Super Mario. But mostly a love letter to the brilliant six book series by Bryan Lee O'Malley which smoothly condenses into a single film. O'Malley's unique style fortunately overlaps beautifully with Wright's trademark rapid-fire editing to create a blissful, unique fantasy with a rich core. 

The film centers around the title character played by Michael Cera. Scott's a slacker with no visible source of income whose only real commitment is playing bass in the band Sex Bob-omb. Yeah, hope you know your video games. He begins the film dating an adorably shy seventeen year old Asian catholic schoolgirl named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). She worships Scott. He worships her worship of him. It's a chaste relationship. Everyone from Scott's sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick, once again cast in a movie only to be perpetually angry but unlike in New Moon funny this time) to his perpetually looking to get laid gay roommate Wallace (Kieran Culkin) disapproves. Scott seems content until he sees the girl of his dreams in his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). When he sees her when awake, Scott decides he must pursue her. He succeeds after several fumbling attempts and the two commence dating. Without Scott dumping Knives. He's a bit of a flake to be very clear. 

Knives gets the picture when the first of Ramona's seven evil exes (it's stressed they're not evil ex-boyfriends) shows up. And one of the most insane fights to hit screens this year begins. Complete with Bollywood style song and dance number. Scott defeats ex 1 only to realize more fights await. Will he vanquish Ramona's past boyfriends (and one girlfriend played by Mae (her?) Whitman)? Will Scott confront his own past? And how much more insane will it get? 

I'm leaving huge chunks of the plot out to let viewers take it all in. This is an experience. Part very badass action movie with gloriously varied fights, part sweet study of the issues we bring to love, all the way laugh out loud comedy, Edgar Wright goes for and by the end of the first half nails his hat trick. This is indeed on par with his first two films, the neoclassics Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Wright shines with this deliriously weird film. 

What is easy to praise is the cast. Michael Cera isn't too far out of his depth as the slacker Scott but he does get to play a less likable, innocent version. Winstead does well with a difficult role, playing less a part than an idea. Wong, as the third leg of the triangle, really creates a sweet, lovable character. Culkin is great as the gay best friend who for once isn't some asexual queen but a character with an active sex life whose advice is the kind of dry, to the point advice Scott needs. The exes are all great. Period. Praise is due to Aubrey Plaza's irritable, foulmouthed turn as Julie, one of Scott's harshest critics. 

If there are flaws, let me cite two. The first is simply unavoidable: Ramona is a cipher. She's a character with a lot of mystery but that results in her being more an idea and less of a person. Credit goes to Winstead for doing a ton to overcome that with small elements of her performance. But at the end, I still wanted more. That sounds like it should be a giant flaw but I stress it oddly isn't to me at least. The second flaw isn't a flaw as much as it is an issue for others. Simply put, this film is inherently not going to play to a broad audience. It's a weird duck and while I want to be wrong, if the more obvious sell Kick-Ass couldn't break out, this is doomed. Prove me wrong America. 

But on the romance, I critique Ramona's character but I think that may sort of be the point. Scott wants the unknown for the first time in his life. Just as, we will come to learn, she wants something different. And isn't that life? Finding the new and learning to accept there are no ideals. There is no happiness without risk. This movie opens August 13. I strongly recommend it. 

All I know about this movie is your review and what I've seen in TV spots. Before your review I had barely any idea what was going on; I just know that it was giving me a Kick-Ass vibe (which, considering how much I enjoyed that, is a good thing) and seemed completely bat@#^%.

Knowing who made this pretty much cements for me that fact that I need to go see this. I haven't yet seen Hot Fuzz (although I laughed at the trailer more than once...and I really need to rectify not seeing it) and I adore Shaun of the Dead, so yeah, I'm actually going to hit a theater I think.



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Better save up...

I found myself over that very same critical barrel with Predators. After banging my head against the "should-be-but-isn't" brick wall for awhile (in search of magic coins, natch) I came to the conclusion that, if I'm complaining about wanting more of something, there must've been something good there in the first place, which is itself a good, and therefore in the film's favor. No great metaphysical truth in that, but it certainly helped me sleep.

And, as always, thanks. Good to hear a positive write-up from a trusted source.

Well, it's acknowledging something is deliberate but looks weak. The point is Scott loves the idea of Ramona, a fact made clearer by the fact we know so little about her. We know the romantic idea but the actual person we just get tantalizing hints. This is underlined at the end but I won't spoil it. And Winstead really must get credit. She acts a lot with her eyes. A lot of small gestures. Look, I'm not turning this into a drool fest. But she's a gifted actress here. A lot suggested.

Glad to hear I'm getting the word out. This deserves it big time.

Wonderful film. It's a lot more flawed than Wright's previous flicks, which were mindbogglingly tight and well-crafted; this one's more sloppy and goofy. But it's also the kind of movie you can fall deeply in love with, and I did. It calls back to Wright's work on Spaced in its big-heartedness.

The comics are better, largely because a lot of characters are simplified thanks to teensy screentime...and that mostly impacts the women, sadly. Ramona, as noted, becomes a bit of a cypher and is oddly passive. Kim Pine also gets shoved aside a bit, as does Stephen Stills (though oddly enough, Young Neil felt like his role was actually*expanded* a bit from the comics). But thanks to the various actors, the characters still pop. It's kind of amazing the degree to which the whole cast can bring to life roles with limited screentime. Still, I think Ramona was hurt a little, as amazing as Winstead is. And the one female role who really was well-served by the script, Knives, was also the role filled by the one actress that didn't impress me very much. Wong played Knives as a little too whiny and pathetic, so that her (admittedly awesome) climactic stuff didn't land as hard as it should.

I also wish we'd seen Scott and Ramona "clicking" a little bit more. The books were about a full-on relationship, with love and sex and commitment and complications and stuff, spanning a year. The movie was more about a relationship that can't really get started because of baggage, which, OK, but at a certain point you start to wonder if it's worth the trouble. It's only because the fights are so goofy and obviously metaphorical, and Winstead is so charismatic, that you buy Scott continuing to stick by her (and a lot of people I've heard from couldn't even do that). I do wish we'd gotten at least one more scene in which the two of them were drawing closer together, somewhere between the second and third Evil Exes.

But I don't want to make it sound like I'm complaining too much, the movie is unrelentlingly, dementedly fun and it really does bring the comics to life amazingly. It's interesting how much funnier O'Malley's dialogue is when actors are saying it; I tended to find it chuckle-worthy on the page, but I rarely laughed out loud at it the way I did when Brandon Routh said "Maybe if you understood the science, I'd listen to a word you're saying." Culkin steals the movie. So does Johnny Simmons as Young Neil, who, again, isn't much of a standout character in the books. And there were aspects of the final confrontation I actually liked better than the comics, particularly Nega-Scott.

So it turns out I'm really, really not the target audience for this movie-- so much so that I honestly couldn't tell you whether it was any good or not. What I can tell you is that it was the most irritating movie I've seen since I can't remember when, although in a weird way, I kind of got used to it by about the 3/4 mark. Never did stop wishing Scott would leave me alone forever, though.




Oh-- and what's with the coins, anyway?

Reference to Super Mario and other such video games where defeating enemies would inexplicably cause their corpses to transform into money

I appreciated how no one in the movie questioned anything that was happening--this was all just the world for them.

I adored this and look forward to hearing the commentary on the eventual DVD.

like in the new Batman: The Brave And The Bold game for Wii which was shown off at Toronto FanExpo this weekend. People were pointing and laughing when gun-toting goons Batman pasted exploded into coins.....

Fiancee and I went to see this a second time--the only ones in the theater, for its last night of showing.

People had talked about the metaphorical nature of the story. I didn't really get that first viewing, but this time I saw it, and it just added another layer to an already deep, interesting movie. It's a shame this bombed; it's a great movie. It was also kind of a niche movie, sadly.

"Kind of"?