Look; we all love Spaced, right? You know, the Channel 4, pop culture savvy sitcom that that made Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright virtual household names to a certain generation. Additionally, we also adored their leap into movies with the pitch perfect comedies Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz that took that post modern approach and used it to make Wright one of the most endearing directors operating today. However, as painful as it was to admit, Wright couldn’t stick solely making comedies with his Spaced stable mates forever and in an act of maturing that would have been worthy of one of his own films, Wright had to prove himself in the “real world” by temporarily stepping away from his (at the time) unfinished Three Favours Cornetto trilogy and prove himself by tackling a big, Hollywood production. Of course, you can take the man-child out of the man, but you apparently can’t take the man out of the man-child (or something) and with his chaotic, delirious and super-energetic comic boom adaptation, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Wright began to spread his wings while still playing in a similar – if greatly expanded – sandbox.
Player one, start.
Not so long ago… In the mysterious land of Toronto, Canada… we meet Scott Pilgrim, a 23 year-old bass guitarist for a struggling indie garage band called Sex Bob-Omb who seems to be going through some rather unflattering issues with his self-respect. Unable to deal with a healthy relationship after being spectacularly dumped a year earlier, Scott has started dating 17 year-old high school student Knives Chau who, due to the age difference idolises Pilgrim while some of his friends simply think that it’s just creepy. However, as scrappy as that might sound, his head is soon turned by the pink hair of Ramona Flowers whom he instantly becomes obsessed with and starts seeing despite the fact that he’s technically already dating.
However, while the morality of Scott actions are one thing, the major ramifications of Scott and Ramona dating soon sparks the ire of the League Of Evil Exes, a ground of seven individuals who all once dated Flowers and have all united to control her dating life from here on out. If Scott wants to keep on dating his dream girl, he’ll have to fight each one despite the fact that they all have funky powers and special abilities. If it isn’t the fireball throwing, Bollywood stylings of Matthew Patel, or Hollywood actor Lucas Lee and his cadre of stunt doubles, it’s the vegan superpowers of Todd Ingram, the teleporting ninja rage of Roxy Richter or the techno busting powers of the Katayanagi twins. However, even if Scott can defeat all of the above, he’ll still have to get through petulant record producer Gideon Graves who seems to be just as unable to move on from Ramona as anyone else. With the ramifications of his skeevy dating practices catching up with him and Evil Exes popping up to challenge him at every turn, Scott realises that maybe it’s time to take responsibility for his actions and go get a life.
There are admittedly some aspects of Wright’s adaption of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s cult comic that sit a little uneasy in this day and age – chief among them being that our lead is happily dating a 17 year old school girl. However, while this initially sounds unbelievably bad, not only are great pains taken to explaining that Scott’s ill advised relationship with Knives is almost asexual in nature (“We almost held hands once.”), but it’s used as a plot point to show how pathetic and self absorbed a creature Pilgrim is to allow his slacker existence to backslide so totally. We are supposed to laugh at how petty and small Scott has allowed his life to become, but in no way are we supposed to admire his scrappy little life or how ignorant he is of the damage his self absorbed nature causes to virtually everyone around him.
With that out of the way, it’s now free and clear to gush like a madman at the utterly gonzo world that Wright has managed to cram onto the screen that’s part 90s slacker relationship comedy, part fantasy comic book allegory and part videogame based action film that sees actors such as Michael Cera, Mae Whitman and Jason Schwartzman hurl themselves into the type of farcical fight scenes usually reserved for the likes of Jackie Chan. It’s almost like Wright is letting virtually everything hang out just in case he never gets to make another movie again as he breaks the fourth wall, goes full absurd and stages gargantuan sequences that take pumped-up, video game visuals and slathers it all over a story of a Canadian underachiever who needs to have a sense of decency literally slapped into him at regular intervals.
To accurately do justice to the sheer breadth of the cast on show here, my review would easily have to been at least twice it’s usual length. Not only is Cera perfect casting for the insecure dumbass, but he’s joined by a laundry list of famous faces including Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aubrey Plaza, Brie Larson, Kieran Culkin (a standout), Allison Pill, and Anna Kendrick who all round out Scott’s world. However, as great as the supporting cast is, the movie truly kicks into high gear whenever any of the Seven Evil Exes are onscreen, which allows Wright to step on the gas and go balls out on some surrealistic fight choreography and bombastic visuals. Standouts include Chris Evans’ egotistical Hollywood big shot, Lucas Lee who spouts out ludicrous action one liners (“The next click you hear is me hanging up. The one after that is me pulling the trigger.”) while seemingly wearing Hugh Jackman’s eyebrows; and Brandon Routh’s telekinesis wielding vegan who is ultimately bamboozled by gelato not being allowed (“It’s milk and eggs, bitch.”).
It’s not quite perfect. Winstead’s dream girl, isn’t much more than a typical magical pixie girl ideal – admittedly one with a giant hammer hidden in her purse – and there’s so many ideas going on here that it movie is frequently overwhelmed by its own ambition. However, all of the above is a small price to pay for a film that’s so endless innotive and relentlessly funny as this and while Wright would eventually return to finish his beloved Cornetto trilogy, the crazed antics of Scott and his peers meant that the director could not only survive, but positively thrive without the team of Pegg and Frost backing him up.
Possibly the most whacked-out, crazed, uncontrollable movie about dating and relationships that you’re ever likely to witness (yes, even more so than a Kevin Smith film), Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World not only is a superlative comic book adaptation that encompasses a truly hilarious rubber reality via some skillful use of video game culture (the 8-bit Universal logo is undeniable genius) and Anime visuals, but it marked it’s director impressively leveling up to play with the big boys. There’s an “L word” that perfectly sums up this movie and it’s not “lesbians” – it’s legendary.
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