Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

OPENING: 08/13/2010

STUDIO: Universal Pictures

RUN TIME: 112 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
An epic of epic epicness.

Opening Statement
Until now, Edgar Wright’s career has been almost exclusively dedicated to collaborations with his pals Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. After a string of successful efforts including Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Wright is finally digging into new territory with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a Pegg-n-Frost-free adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s delightful comic book series. While the film isn’t quite on the level of the books, it’s yet another entertaining outing from Wright that’s stuffed to the brim with nifty moments.

Facts of the Case
Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera, Superbad) is a 22-year-old slacker who lives in Toronto. He’s currently unemployed and spends most of his free time working on songs with his band (the amusingly named “Sex Bob-omb”). Scott just started dating a 17-year-old Chinese high schooler named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong, Runaway), but that relationship is quickly forgotten about after he meets the mysterious Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Live Free or Die Hard). Ramona fascinates Scott; he would do anything and everything to be with her. It seems he’ll have to do precisely that, as Ramona has seven evil exes that Scott must defeat in combat if he wants to keep the relationship alive. Will Scott survive the series of challenges ahead of him?

The Evidence
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World isn’t going to be a film for everyone. It’s gimmicky, videogame-themed structure is going to appeal to some and annoy others . I spoke to one man outside the theatre who called the trailer the dumbest-looking thing he’d ever seen. Still, for those who grew up playing the likes of Super Mario Brothers, Pac-Man and The Legend of Zelda – or for those who simply enjoy movies that aren’t afraid of breaking traditional narrative rules – the film holds a treasure chest of clever riches that the viewer can collect coin-by-coin along the way.

That’s precisely what Scott Pilgrim does over the course of the film: as he defeats each evil ex, the baddie evaporates into a shower of shiny coins for our hero to claim as his bounty. This is the sort of game-based logic that drives the film and provides many of its best gags. Despite the overload of quick verbal witticisms, sight gags and cutesy asides that threaten to overload the screen at times, Wright actually attempts to provide quite a few long-lined jokes over the course of the film. It’s fun when the Universal logo music is presented in a tremendously cheesy synthesized form at the beginning, but even funnier when the proper version of that theme is used later to underline another scene. Not all of the jokes stick (Wright demonstrates a curious fondness for the sort of cheesy one-liners he so amusingly parodied in Hot Fuzz – who knows, maybe he’s just being ironic), but enough of them do and they fly by at such speed that those who enjoy the film are bound to desire a repeat viewing at some point.

Though the very concept of a romantic comedy rooted in over-the-top fight scenes may seem a bit odd, Wright likens the battles to sudden bouts of singing in a musical: when the characters get particularly emotional, they express their emotions in fights. The scenes are well-staged and visually involving, as Wright uses a variety of appropriately cheesy CGI and Batman-style sound effect text to give the scenes a distinct flavor. The actors portraying the evil exes (including Chris Evans, Brandon Routh and Mae Whitman) seem to be having a good time, but Jason Schwartzman (The Darjeeling Limited) as the big bad final-round villain makes the strongest impression.

However, my biggest problem with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is that it’s all about the fights. Granted, these scenes play a major role in the books, but the graphic novels have the breathing room to provide complex character development for all of the major players. More importantly, the books are rooted in a sense of deep romantic longing; it’s easy to tell that O’Malley has poured his soul into them. That raw emotional core never quite digs into the film, which is sweet but not quite moving. The film version is a funhouse of action and comedy; the romance is merely there to drive these elements along. This wouldn’t even be a problem if Wright had found a way to keep the action fresh all the way through, but after a certain point the director starts to repeat himself a bit and we start to wish we were spending more time watching the characters interact in ways that don’t involve punching.

Michael Cera is an excellent choice to play Scott. He’s perhaps a bit more sedate than the book version of the character, but the wide-eyed fascination and shy clumsiness he brings to the role is spot-on. Cera has frequently been accused of playing the same sort of character over and over again. So what? Cera plays a certain type of role quite well; does Hollywood no longer have room for character actors known for playing a type? Many actors have been led astray out of desperation to be accepted as versatile. Cera’s in his comfort zone and he aces everything the script throws him. Winstead brings an enigmatic charm to Ramona, though she has a bit less to do than Cera due to the nature of her role. What makes the duo stand out a bit more than the average Cute Young Couple is the fact that both are genuinely flawed individuals- Scott has fidelity issues and Ramona has commitment issues, which doesn’t change the fact that they’re both likable people. They simply seem imperfect, which is a nice change-of-pace. The broad array of bit players are all quite solid, though Ellen Wong probably makes the strongest impression as the volatile Knives Chau. Wong hasn’t been in much to date; this film should put her on the map. Kieran Culkin (Igby Goes Down) also has fun as Scott’s carefree gay roommate Wallace Wells, while Alison Pill (Dan in Real Life) is amusingly acidic as Scott’s band mate Kim Pine.

Closing Statement
While Scott Pilgrim vs. the World isn’t the jaw-dropping delight it could have been, it’s a film with a very distinct flavor and a whole lot of fun to watch. I wish the film could have been more than what it is, but there’s no doubt that I’m looking forward to revisiting Scott Pilgrim’s world again soon.

The Verdict
8/10

Year One

OPENING: 06/19/2009

STUDIO: Columbia Pictures

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

SOUNDTRACK: N/A

The Charge
Meet your ancestors.

Opening Statement
My reaction when first hearing about Year One: "Hey, a new Harold Ramis comedy? Cool beans! I’ll keep an eye out for it."



My reaction to Year One now that I’ve seen it: "$*#@. #*@!, #*!@, $%!@."


Facts of the Case
Year One begins in the Year of Our Lord Who the Heck Knows, a time period I am not familiar with. There we meet two cavemen: an incompetent hunter named Zed (Jack Black, School of Rock) who nobody likes because he is both an idiot and incompetent; and Oh (Michael Cera, Superbad), a wimpy gatherer who can’t seem to garner the respect of anyone. For some inexplicable reason, Zed and Oh are friends. One day, while wandering through the woods, they come across The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Zed impulsively eats from the tree, gaining no additional knowledge or intelligence, but does get kicked out the camp as a consequence for his sacrilege. Oh decides to follow Zed, and they embark on a series of misadventures involving Cain (David Cross, The Grand) and Abel (Paul Rudd, I Love You, Man), the prophet Abraham (Hank Azaria, The Simpsons), the city of Sodom, a princess (Olivia Wilde, Turistas), and a couple of attractive slave girls (June Diane Rapheal and Juno Temple).

The Evidence
The trailers for Year One didn’t look particularly good, but I had hopes it might be an entertaining movie. Sure, director Harold Ramis hasn’t always struck gold (Analyze That, anyone?), but even his least successful films have been reasonably engaging. Alas, Year One represents a low point in Mr. Ramis’ career. Do you want to know how bad this movie is? The funniest moments are in the trailer. In truth, the best this film can hope to achieve is painless mediocrity and it doesn’t even come close, barely managing to distinguish itself from the abysmal comedies coming from the Epic Movie/Date Movie/Disaster Movie crowd.

The film plays like a low-rent version of Mel Brooks’ A History of the World, Part 1, which itself was a low-rent version of a Monty Python film. The plot is a loosely connected series of illogical threads designed to tie together a group of poorly-conceived sketches. As such, we’re treated to material that wouldn’t even make it into the final half-hour of Saturday Night Live. I suppose there is some potential enjoyment to be had in poking fun at the lifestyles of cavemen and Old Testament figures, but Year One jumps on every obvious joke and clubs it into the ground.

For example, Zed and Oh are attempting to follow the trail of some slave-traders. In order to get an idea of how far away the traders are, Zed decides to examine the warmth of their fecal matter. As if this stuff wasn’t tired and boring enough, do we really need five minutes to watch Zed smell, taste, and chew on it, analyzing what foods the traders have been recently eating? Likewise, anytime an opportunity for a sex joke appears, the film not only takes it but repeats it endlessly. You can bet if you come across a eunuch in this film, you will not only find out what body part he’s missing, but where he keeps it and what he’s planning to do with it.

Whose terrible idea was it to cast Jack Black in the lead role? Black is hit-and-miss with me to begin with, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a less inspired performance. Pulling out the same sort of over-the-top chaos that defines his Tenacious D personality, he seems to be on autopilot with a performance full of tired shtick that won’t entertain anyone over the age of seven (not that anyone so young should be permitted to see this film, as it considerably pushes the boundaries of the PG-13 rating). The writing isn’t all that funny to begin with, but Black does absolutely nothing to make it any more amusing. Almost every line he delivers sounds like a rocker greeting an audience. Instead of, "All right, Detroit! Are you reeeeady to ROCK?", it’s "All RIIIIGHT! Let’s go over THAT-a-way, OW!"

Consider for a moment this film features the likes of Michael Cera, Hank Azaria, Harold Ramis, Oliver Platt, David Cross, Paul Rudd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Bill Hader. With a cast like this, you could make something side-splitting. The only problem is none of them are funny in Year One. I only laughed twice: once at Ramis, and once at Azaria. To be perfectly honest, both of those laughs were more like mild chuckles, partially generated by my goodwill towards these two men. It didn’t last long.


With characters from many different eras of ancient history, the only conceivable reason I can find for calling the movie Year One is this: if the film makes money, they can call the next one Year Two. Please, for the love of all that is sacred, don’t let that happen.

Closing Statement
This one should have no trouble carving out a place for itself on many "Worst of 2009" lists, including mine. So let it be over, so let it be done.

The Verdict
1/10