The Shadow Cabaret

Coming-of-age stories are pretty much by definition also getting-over-yourself stories, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a prime example of both.

Though gussied up with slacker culture and a plethora of video game references, at its heart the graphic novel by Bryan Lee O’Malley on which the movie is based lies comfortably within that traditional niche, with a protagonist who’s forced to grow beyond the comfort of clueless self-absorption and take the first fumbling steps toward mature responsibility. Sometimes Scott Pilgrim is dragged kicking and screaming toward that goal, other times (playing off the gaming zeitgeist which O’Malley takes as a given among his readership) he advances punching and leaping … but the result is much the same as that of The Catcher in the Rye, The Red Badge of Courage or Huckleberry Finn.

Director Edgar Wright and co-screenwriter Michael Bacall have adapted O’Malley’s work into a good-hearted and fast-paced little film that’s about as faithful an adaptation as one could ask of a Hollywood production. Some of the character development and slice-of-life quality that distinguished the graphic novel have been jettisoned, but the inventive flashy visuals have been transferred with remarkable fidelity, as has an impressive amount of heart. As a comics adaptation, it’s every bit as obsessive on the surface as 300 or Watchmen; but as a movie, it’s immensely more satisfying.

Michael Cera stars as Scott, a young Toronto layabout who mooches room and board off his friends and plays bass with a struggling band called Sex Bob-omb (a Mario Bros. reference, for the older and more disinterested out there). A 22-year-old whose heart was broken a year ago when a girlfriend threw him over for somebody cooler, he’s struck up a platonic romance with high school student Knives Chau (Ellen Wong) – who’s so pure of heart and purely infatuated that she hasn’t noticed that he’s sponging off her, too.

Yes, Scott is a self-centered jerk, and it’s only Cera’s patented doe-eyed winsomeness that makes it possible to retain any kind of sympathy for him in the film’s opening half hour. At the same time, Cera’s presence in the role makes it hard to swallow Scott’s history as a ladies man. It’s a bit much to believe that this high-voiced man-child has such a long line of bitter ex-girlfriends in his past, and may make some viewers fear for the future of the species. But if you can accept that premise, buying into the rest of the movie is a piece of cake.

It’s the arrival of American mystery woman Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) that starts the story moving. Hard-shelled and apparently inaccessible, Ramona quickly becomes the object of Scott’s obsession. Eventually, his quirky charm wins her over and she agrees to date him – but it’s a victory that comes with a price: First he must battle and defeat her seven evil exes, each of whom wields awesome video game-inspired powers of destruction. And that’s when the movie really takes off.

The battles with the exes take up the bulk of the running time of this 112-minute film, and to director Wright’s credit, the predictability and monotony are kept to a minimum. Still, seeing Scott win coins, an extra life and other gaming tokens simply isn’t as funny on the fifth or sixth go-round as on the first. Wright has cannily deflected the sense of diminishing returns by setting up Scott’s world in gaming terms from the get-go, with sound effects forming words on the screen and the use of superimposed bars and meters for comic effect. But the sense of repetition does eventually sink in.

For all the flash and bang that results, it’s the cast that keeps the film lively. Though its concentration on the action means that important parts of O’Malley’s story have been excised or reduced to shorthand, the actors – frequently through sheer charisma – manage to keep the film from turning into a mindless hipster version of Mortal Kombat. Among the evil exes, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh and Mae Whitman are particularly entertaining. Kieran Culkin is terrific as Scott’s roommate Wallace. (And yes, those are Thomas Jane and Clifton Collins putting in sly unbilled cameos as the Vegan Police.)

Though he’s quite good as Scott, Cera is frequently acted off the screen by the women in the film. Winstead is the epitome of cool as Ramona, a damaged young woman who’s trying to live down her train wreck of a past and just maybe learning something about herself as the chaos mounts. Wong is sunny and heartbreaking as Knives, in over her head among the comparatively fast crowd surrounding Scott. Perhaps best of all is Alison Pill as Kim, Sex Bob-omb’s freckle-faced drummer who’s also Scott’s ‘tude-heavy eternally annoyed old friend and one-time lover.

In a way, it’s a shame that the film doesn’t allow a little more time for these characters to simply hang out and interact, but making way for seven major action sequences doesn’t leave much room for basic storytelling. Among the things the characters do in O’Malley’s graphic novel is sit around and play video games…

but with so much game-style action on hand throughout the film, there’s virtually no time – or need – for the movie’s characters to kick back and pick up a controller. It’s worth noting that where actual games are concerned, Wright has it both ways: the few times we’re asked to consider video games themselves, they’re invariably symbols of immaturity (Scott embarrasses himself by spouting Pac-Man trivia at Ramona, arcade games are examples of the juvenile aspect of his relationship with Knives) … and yet much of the film’s humor is based on the viewer’s familiarity with how video games work. It’s almost as though Wright is getting away with telling the members of his target audience that they’re too benumbed by their PlayStations and Xboxes to notice when he’s slapping them in the face with their own failure to grow up.

But the film is such a funny and fast-moving romp that it’s unlikely that many of its intended ticket buyers are going to stop laughing long enough to take umbrage. As goofy and occasionally inconsequential as it is, it’s also one of those rare films that come along every decade or so, movies like Easy Rider or Rebel Without a Cause or even Casablanca, with the indefinable ability to read the minds and speak the language of the up-and-coming generation. Whether you enjoy it as a video game, an off-the-wall action flick or a romantic comedy, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a likable winner.

Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 112 minutes

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