For many thousands of years, it is strange to believe. Scott Pilgram vs. the World 2023 is more or less nostalgia bait, right down to its cascade of familiar actors that have changed wildly over the years. But then again, one of the joys of revisiting this Toronto Funhouse Arcade version is getting to see miniature versions of Chris Evans, Karen Culkin, Brie Larson, Anna Kendrick, and many other actors you may have forgotten. Gone were, in this thing, all wrapped up in a tightly edited, 112-minute fever dream whose only real sin is its prevention, if you can believe that.
The story itself follows Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), a prickly, unemployed 20-something guitarist who spots a girl at a party and immediately wants her attention. He quickly discovers that she is Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and although she reluctantly goes on a date with her, Scott has no idea what she is really in for. It’s not long before Ramona’s self-described “Seven Evil Axes” declare war on Scott, and if he really wants to win Ramona’s heart, he’ll have to defeat each one during the film. He also has his own ex or two or three, his increasingly desperate garage band, and this world’s uncanny tendency to default to video game logic, until defeated characters literally turn into… coins.
But it is Scott Pilgram vs. the World Isn’t that really all there is to it? Yes. obviously. That is the appeal.
It turns out that cramming six volumes of a graphic novel into a single movie that’s not even two hours long can cause a lot of narrative and marketing confusion for people who might otherwise see the movie. Would have liked, if they knew it was a movie at all. for them. And you’d be hard-pressed to find another director up for the challenge in the first place, as it was Edgar Wright’s follow-up to One-Two Punch. Shaun of the Dead And A warm blur.
Wright showed a real knack for turning bizarre comic book worlds into big-budget movies with surprisingly poignant emotional punch. But with at least Scott Pilgram, he poured his heart, soul and eccentricity into his one-of-a-kind style, which has yet to be remotely replicated. There’s a reason so many people return to it year after year, admiring its wildly imaginative special effects and how its unexpected energy is often and unexpectedly tempered by its gritty, over-the-top lows. Contrasts with comedy and one-liners. Watching Michael Cera use the toilet when an interface “P-Bar” is empty is just one of the many odd, seemingly unnecessary details that make watching this movie with friends a surreal experience.
Perhaps this is an added layer of humor behind the new anime’s title, Scott Pilgrim taking off., a not-so-subtle reference to how this could be the moment when Brian Lee O’Malley’s original story and Wright’s film version of it finally take off with the wider public, as it always deserved. Time will tell if the anime fully delivers the way its trailer and marketing hype machine has been promising so far. But even if it crashes and burns, the live-action interpretation will always be ready.
It’s a time capsule to a very specific moment for millennials who grew up in the early internet era, the era of console games and pre-social media romance. It’s a flip-phone hipster love letter to a band, who has to sign for Amazon packages and thinks the Dance Dance Revolution is (and probably still is) a romantic date. You’d think these somewhat obnoxious traces of the passage of time would rob the film of its otherwise timeless quality, but this is one of those rare cases where the specificity is exactly what makes the film so easily captured.
So even if the anime wasn’t coming out in just a week or so, Scott Pilgram vs. the World Like many of Edgar Wright’s works, Perennial is a film night option. Few other directors are so good at creating something that appeals to first-time watchers and forever-obsessed almost equally.
Scott Pilgram vs. the World Is Streaming now on Netflix.
Credit : www.inverse.com
