What would you do to gain the affection of a girl you love? Would you give her gifts? Would you take her out to romantic places?
Would you fight her seven evil ex-boyfriends to win her heart?
That is the question Scott Pilgrim must answer in the 2010 film “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.”
Adapted from the graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim is the story of a young Canadian slacker who must do battle with seven evil ex boyfriends to become Ramona Flowers new boyfriend.
Along the way, we meet Scott’s fellow friends and band members, including Scott’s gay roommate Wallace Wells (played by Kieran Culkin) and Scott’s previous ex girlfriend-turned-drummer Kim Pine (played by Alison Pill).
Set in Toronto, the movie begins with Scott Pilgrim (played by Michael Cera), who is part of the band Sex Bob-omb. While dating a high school student named Knives Chau (played by Ellen Wong), Scott and the band learn at a party of a battle of the bands competition.
First prize is a record contract with Gideon Gordon Graves (played by Jason Schwartzman) and his record label G-Man Graves.
While at the party, Scott meets a mysterious American girl named Ramona Flowers (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead), whose dark past soon catches up with her after meeting Scott.
Scott is convinced that she is “the one” and immediately asks her out.
She agrees, after some coaxing, which leads them to learn more about one another.
The use of comic panels from the original “Scott Pilgrim” comics to revel Ramona’s past relationships is well executed.
Scott’s eventual breakup with Knives doesn’t sit well with her, as she then dedicates herself to winning Scott Pilgrim’s heart again.
Cera’s acting talents are a bit mixed in the film.
While he does have problems emoting his anger, which at times is laughable, he still delivers a solid performance. His character’s na’ve traits are sincere and only help to create sympathy for his character.
Throughout the film, he matures along the way, knowing that he must get over himself before he can defeat his foes. This makes the audience root even harder for Pilgrim to win the day.
Winstead’s portrayal of Ramona invokes mixed feelings for her character.
She comes off in the beginning as rude and somewhat uncaring. But as the film runs its course, we see that deep down, she only hides her true feelings because she does not want others to be hurt by her.
Winstead handles this very well in her acting, becoming a three dimensional personality who we can relate to.
But the most unique aspects of the film are the numerous references to video games.
From Scott’s dreams featuring music from “The Legend of Zelda” to the name of Scott’s band Sex Bob-omb (a reference from ‘Super Mario Bros. 2’), these nods to classic video games give the film a charm that stays with the audience long after the “continue” credits roll.
Even the famous Universal tune preceding the film is done as an eight-bit style Nintendo Entertainment System music track.
But by that same notion, for non gamers, this could be a bit