The first time I watched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, it was a school night in late January of 2014. My father and I were skimming through the free selection of movies in the on-demand section of our cable box when the film’s title became highlighted on the screen. We saw that it had Michael Cera in it, who we both knew from his roles in Superbad and Juno, and were in the mood for a comedy, so we turned it on, with neither of us having any strong expectations in either a positive or negative way. When the film concluded, we were both pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed it.
The first aspect of the film that will quite literally pop out at you is the visuals and its overall style. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is written and directed by Edgar Wright, one of my personal favorite directors, and if you are at all familiar with his work you will know to expect witty humor and fast-paced editing, as evident in his other works such as Baby Driver and the trilogy of comedies he made with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The movie is meant to take place in a world similar to that of a video game, with pop up messages, superpowers, and lots of flashy colors throughout. The extravagant manner in which the film is presented could have very easily been annoying or overdone, but Wright finds a way to balance the editing with the story in a way that is both logical and entertaining, effectively using the universe our heroes interact in as a character itself.
The other part of the film that I thought was done particularly well was the characters. As I previously mentioned, the setting of this film is essentially a video game, so as you can imagine the characters are all very unique. Aside from our titular protagonist that is masterfully portrayed by the ever-awkward Cera, the film has a number of actors and actresses who were just a few years away from their breakout roles, namely Brie Larson, Anna Kendrick, and Chris Evans. Having such a star-studded cast can sometimes lead to certain actors feeling like they were underutilized due to a lack of screen time, but once again Wright is more than up to the task, balancing the cast and having all the actors play to their own respective strengths, almost always to great comedic effect.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is easily one of the more unique movies I’ve seen in my lifetime, and because of that, it’s not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea; after all, it did fail to make its budget back at the box office. However, as with most movies with a cult following, the film eventually found its audience after reaching home video, and I highly recommend you at least give it a shot if you’re looking for a comedy with a lot more style than usual without the need to sacrifice any of its substance.
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