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Edgar Wright directed to of my favorite recent comedies: Shuan of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. He makes his American debut with Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, an adaptation of the graphic novel about a kid who has to deal with his new girl's very protective exes. Wright does exactly with Pilgrim what I thought he would: make an inventive, incredibly entertaining movie out of it.
Pilgrim is played by Michael Cera, a guy who was very quickly becoming the guy who could only play Michael Cera. In the beginning of the film, it looks like he's going to play himself again, as the 22 year old Scott floats through life with no real ambition. Then he meets Ramona Flowers, the girl of his dreams. To be with her, he must defeat her seven evil exes. And this is where the movie kicks into high gear.
Wright's previous films were perfect sendups of the zombie and buddy cop genres. Here, he makes a movie that is absolutely of the moment: references to video games and social networking abound. When Scott defeats an ex, they burst into coins, and characters are introduced on screen with Facebook like bios. It also has a lot of heart;you want Scott to win the girl, thanks to Cera's performance. The movie moves along at an exhilerating pace, even if it does start to wear towards the end (even if the seven exes are different, Scott is still just fighting with each of them). However, that's a minor quibble. This movie is a hell of a lot of fun.
Edgar Wright directed to of my favorite recent comedies: Shuan of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. He makes his American debut with Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, an adaptation of the graphic novel about a kid who has to deal with his new girl's very protective exes. Wright does exactly with Pilgrim what I thought he would: make an inventive, incredibly entertaining movie out of it.