BOO Scott Pilgrim!!!
This review is probably the lowest starred review on the Scott Pilgrim vs The World page. And I don't care, because this movie is no way near as good as people claim it to be in my opinion. A very overrated flick from a director who's work is usually outstanding.
I would like to point out that I've never read the Scott Pilgrim comic books. I'm going at this movie on its own merits, so if anyone who comments to this review saying things like "Oh, but in the comic this happens", then I'm sorry.
Moving on, I remember buying this film off of my PS3 on the Playstation Store. Everyone was giving the movie glowing reviews and my friends thought the same. So I sat down and watched it, and as I watched it, there are things about this movie that just puzzled and annoyed me.
Firstly, Michael Cera. Dear god, he's been type-cast in this movie. In every film I've seen Michael Cera in, he's always the same guy, a sheepish, nerdy sort of guy but is still somehow a cool person as well. And in this film, Scott Pilgrim is exactly like that. I really don't root for Scott when he's fighting the evil exes. Someone more funny should've been in the lead, or someone who could pull this role off better, like Jesse Eisenberg maybe (but then again, he was making The Social Network, a movie far better than this). Scott is also as you Americans would put it, a "douchebag". I mean, he first has a girlfriend in Knives Chow (who is far better looking and more interesting than Ramona), and then dumps her so that he can stalk Ramona until she likes him. Because that's the hero I like in my films, someone who cheats on their girlfriends, who are much kinder and good-looking than the girl the hero is cheating with. Speaking of Ramona, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is very bland and uninteresting in this film. I've seen her in Die Hard 4, and she was pretty good in that, so I don't know whether she's been told to act boring or whether she just couldn't act well in this film.
Secondly, the jokes and humour in the film aren't awful, but their not that good either. I'll admit I chuckled a few times, but that's not good enough to make a comedy film good. Like I said, Michael Cera to me isn't a funny actor, however ironically, a lot of the evil exes were funny. Chris Evans as Lucas Lee was probably the funniest part of the film, his over the top action star persona made me laugh a few times and Brandon Routh as Todd Ingram was also quite good. During the fight between Scott and Lucas, I didn't want Lucas to lose, and the same goes for Todd Ingram. I think that's a bad thing in films when you want the villains to kill the hero.
Finally, the ending of the film is complete bullshit to me. For those who don't know, Scott defeats Gideon, the last Evil Ex and Knives and Ramona fight, but Scott stops them by apologising to them. Then in the end, Knives encourages Scott to go and be with Ramona. YES, Knives, the girl who's heart was crushed by Scott and has tried to fight people just to get him back, now suddenly makes all of her role in the film pointless by just letting Scott go be with the girl who stole Scott from her, that sounds plausible doesn't it?! If I were Knives, I would be pretty pissed off at Scott, and I still am pissed off with him, even though I'm male! Another problem with the ending is the inclusion of Nega-Scott (yes, that's spelt correctly). When Scott defeats Gideon, Nega-Scott comes out of the blue and just stares at Scott, letting the audience assume he and normal Scott are going to fight. But then later, there's a scene with Scott and Nega-Scott walking out like friends. I know the joke is that the audience is expecting a fight and they don't get it, but personally, I didn't think this joke was needed because it wasn't that funny and if they wanted it to work, they needed to build more suspense and tension leading towards this fight, to make the payoff more funny.
Anyway, in conclusion, Scott Pilgrim is not the masterpiece that everyone claims it be. I'm sad to say that about an Edgar Wright film but it's true, this is his owrst film yet. Comment below please, and tell me why I'm such a hard-arse for not liking this film. Please tell me, I encourage you!!!
