Pilgrim: progress?

Saw a preview of Scott Pilgrim vs the World last night. Yes that’s right - a review of a film BEFORE it’s properly released! TREMBLE at the novelty of my opinions.


So? Meh. It’s alright. Nothing wrong with that per se, lots of films are perfectly enjoyable without coming close to greatness. Unfortunately, the buzz and trailer for this, combined with Edgar Wright’s track record, very much suggested this would be an eye-popping game-changer of a movie. Depending on whether I bought into the concept or not, I was expecting it to be a film I’d either fall in love with or absolutely hate.

The fact is, I enjoyed bits of it and appreciated some of the one-liners without ever being able to immerse myself. One reason for this would be unfamiliarity with the source material - adaptations always lose something in translation and I’d guess the comic books go into more detail about the backstories of Scott, Ramona and the Seven Evil Exes, something which Wright understandably sacrifices in order to maintain a brisk pace.

Another problem is the character of Scott himself, who comes across as something of a dick. The script does explore - to a point - some of his previous relationships with women and draws parallels with his prospective new sweetheart’s turbulent history, but in a movie where the hero has to fight off seven evil dudes (and dudesses) you’d expect him to be someone you could really root for. Michael Cera is fine though, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a gorgeous, magnetic presence as Ramona.

Wright has adopted a video game aesthetic here, including neat touches like enemies turning into piles of coins when defeated. Much of this stuff feels tacked on rather than an integral part of the movie, which is as much a weakness as a strength. I spent large parts of the film wishing he’d either stripped the gimmickry right back or really gone for it.

There are still tricksy cuts, knowing little stylistic gags and homages thrown in somewhat randomly. One scene, for example, is a spoof of old-fashioned US sitcoms complete with fake canned laughter and much opening and closing of doors, and felt somewhat cringeworthy. Obviously Wright has form in this area, and even in the hallowed Spaced (HERESY ALERT) some of these homages were rather annoying. Spaced, though, was a knowing sitcom almost entirely built around such things, not a film done in a particular style that suddenly goes off on odd tangents.

Lots of people will love Scott Pilgrim - there’s plenty of good lines, amusing characters and cool ideas. Ultimately for me it felt like a good attempt at freshening up the standard teen/slacker romance template rather than a reinvention of the wheel. The curse of high expectations strikes again. Thanks a lot, geeks of the world.