10th Anniversary: Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Thursday, August 13, 2020 at 10:00AM
by Nick Taylor
I first saw Scott Pilgrim vs The World with my mom at an advanced screening, the benefit of a summer-long stint in 2010 where my parent’s work received passes for secret audience test runs of upcoming blockbusters. The theater was decently sized and completely packed, mainly crowded with teenage boys escorted by parents, grandparents, and other miscellaneous chaperones, plus a good number of twenty- and thirtysomethings who likely read Bryan Lee O’Malley’s recently concluded graphic novel series. You can imagine any number of reasons why this movie would’ve played well to the teen boys in the audience, though it still amazes me how much everyone in the theater seemed to be having a good time with it. Ten years later and it’s still a reliable hit with my immediate family, and someone referring to it as Edgar Wright’s best film can get me on their side real quick...
There are a couple ways you could summarize the many story and character threads of Scott Pilgrim vs The World. At its core, the film is focused on the romance between the hopelessly Canadian Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) and the very cool American Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who’s recently moved to Canada and is now delivering for amazon.ca. Scott first sees her rollerblading through a subspace highway in his subconscious, and even though their first irl interaction is a bit rough, their first date goes super well.
Trouble is there’s two major roadblocks to their relationship working out. One is that Scott is already dating a 17 year old high schooler named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), at least in part because he’s still not over getting his heart kicked in the ass over a year ago by former bandmate and current rock superstar Envy Adams (Brie Larson). Knives is head over heels for Scott, and the thought of breaking her heart is a major impediment to Scott’s highly ambivalent ass pulling the plug. The other, more dangerous threat is the League of Evil Exes (comprised of Satya Bhabha, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Mae Whitman, Keita and Shota Seito, and Jason Schwartzman), an organization of seven of Ramona’s former partners who’ve banded together to control her love life by beating the shit out of anyone who’s interested in her. Sounds like fun, right? I still don’t get how this became a box office bomb, though its current cult status feels inevitable and justly earned.
For as big an impact as Scott Pilgrim had on me - particularly via Wallace Wells, who was a key component to my sense of humor and to Realizing Things - I wouldn’t say it was hugely influential to what I looked for in movies. But then again, how many films can you think of that successfully managed to incorporate comic book and video game aesthetics with such spritely enthusiasm? With its cleverly integrated visual effects, whipsmart editing, versatile sound design, and perfectly curated soundtrack, Scott Pilgrim keys into the best, most distinct impulses of its source material while remaining broadly accessible to viewers who didn’t read the books. Wright’s sense of humor and audiovisual creativity fits well with O’Malley’s witty dialogue and captivating imagery, recreating whole passages of the graphic novel while staying true to his own sensibilities. Compare even the best scenes of Sin City or Watchmen, two films that mostly exist as fetishistic recreations of their original texts, and it becomes even more obvious how much work Wright and his artists have put into honoring Scott Pilgrim’s 2-D idiosyncracies while re-interpreting it as cinema.
All of these aspects are at their best in the first hour. Wright and co-writer Michael Bacall capably interweave the various plot threads between Scott, Knives, Ramona, and the League while still leaving room to show what day-to-day life is like for these characters. The use of video game and comic book grammars from the out helps to delineate which effects we see are part of Scott's POV and which one seem woven into the fabric of this world. Scott, when not an ass-kicking fighter, is sort of a loser, and the film walks a fond line of indulging his nerdy tendencies even as it diagnoses his immaturity and dating of high schoolers as unhealthy. He needs to grow up, get a job, maybe stop relying on his cool gay roommate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin) for almost everything. You can see why this guy might be attracted to a woman who seems as self-possessed and tough and hot as Ramona does, and he’s just charming enough that we can understand why she’d date him back. What ultimately makes the movie work is the amount of time we get watching everyone interact with each other, not just worldbuilding but establishing the lives of these characters as related to Scott but also independent of him. Maybe they story don't "need" a scene of Wallace flirting with the new boyfriend of Scott's sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick), but it reveals character and is very funny.
It’s not that Scott Pilgrim fails to maintain its energy and creativity, at least on the levels of craft and performance. But somewhere between the third and fourth ex the film starts moving faster through its narrative beats and boss battles. You can feel it trying to fit itself underneath a two hour time limit, which seems counterintuitive to how much personality Wright has evoked by not winnowing his focus so dramatically. The critiquing of Scott’s behavior towards the women in his life is replaced by a “respect others by respecting yourself” meme, and Ramona’s caginess about her history starts to read as a lack of character development. The extra dimensions afforded to the supporting cast is basically taken out at the knees. I don’t know why Wright’s films always implode to some degree in the last third, though his condensing of the third act into a familiar Hollywood shape is hardly an unforgivable sin. I’ll happily take the flattening of theme and short-shrifting of character here over Baby Driver’s increasingly gross attitude towards everyone who’s not Baby. I’d also take any footage that got left on the cutting room floor due to time constraints, if you got some.
Still, what makes Scott Pilgrim vs The World less satisfying as a whole does nothing to diminish how great most of the individual parts are. Beyond the unimpeachable craft, it’s also - to an absurd degree - a hilarious acting showcase for a cast stacked with folks that I’m normally not crazy about. Michael Cera’s comic timing and dorky appeal is unexpectedly effective at highlighting what’s needy and indecisive about Scott. Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s aloofness is a great fit for Ramona’s cool-girl intrigue. Diamond-hard turns from Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Satya Bhabha, Chris Evans, Allison Pill, and Mae Whitman, (to name a few) are endlessly rewatchable. To an one, almost every single role is scarily well-cast, and even if the script could stand to give some of these characters more to do, their actors remain delightfully fun.
And, since I’ve made my bread and butter on The Film Experience discussing supporting actresses, I’d be remiss not to end this article on Ellen Wong, whose performance as Knives is very easily my favorite piece of acting in any Edgar Wright movie. I love how uncondescending Wong is as putting over Knives’ love for Scott, not just in “bigger” displays cheering him on at a concert but when they’re just hanging out at the thrift store and gossiping about the torrid romances of her yearbook club. Her energy is almost infectious, and she’s such a sympathetic character that we feel genuinely sorry for her when Scott dumps her (though she could obviously do better). More than anyone, I wish the screenplay spent more time with her in the second half - I'd have loved a scene detailing what changed from her sad encounter with Scott after the battle of the bands to her actions afterwards. More than that, I am deeply confused how she’s like, the only cast member who didn’t watch their career go supernova within three years. Who else could nail a role that’s equal parts romantic lead, bubbly comedienne, and kickass action hero only to get zero major film offers in any of those genres? All I could do after watching her near-perfect performance was imagine her take on Ingrid Thorburn and Helena Bertinelli, among so many other roles she should've gotten the chance to play. I hope she gets more chances to strut her stuff soon, but if the only way to see her excel any time soon is to watch Scott Pilgrim again, I think I can live with that.
Reader Comments (13)
I had a rewatch a couple of months ago and I had the same dilemma about Wong's carrer
My biggest problem with the movie is that Scott isn't very likable. He's not so much a flawed hero as just a dick. Knives and Ramona were both too good for him. I mean, thanks for selfishly helping Ramona by freeing her from her exes, but she'll probably wisely move on ASAP.
"But somewhere between the third and fourth ex the film starts moving faster through its narrative beats and boss battles. You can feel it trying to fit itself underneath a two hour time limit, which seems counterintuitive to how much personality Wright has evoked by not winnowing his focus so dramatically."
I don't know how you know about the adaptation process, but this was an adaptation of a six-volume comic series that was condensed into a two-hour movie, but also, at the time Wright and Bacall started writing the screenplay, O'Malley had only released the first volume, which is probably why the film starts feeling rather rushed as it goes along. The front half of the film feeels more layered because that's the part where Wright and Bacall had more to work with (there are even rumors that O'Malley got ideas for some of the later volumes from what Wright and Bacall were doing).
Here's a full analysis in seven videos if you want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kww3sspB7MM&list=PL4QtKjJdB8FQkf0Q_KRsnqHUY_PS0noAr
Thanks for the retrospective. This is just a murderer's row of on-screen talent ... if you look past the two main characters. (It's not the actors' fault! Scott is a drip and Ramona is characterized solely by her relationships to others.)
I agree with your singling out Ellen Wong and that she should have blown up. But I remember this film more for introducing me to Brie Larson. From the outset here she's so good at pulling focus, even when she doesn't have any lines. Look at the glare in the photo above, or texting her way through Don Jon or patiently waiting for Amy Schumer to grow up in Trainwreck ... but also, her performance of Black Sheep is burned into my memory.
I *loved* this film. I still do, though I don't get to re-watch it as much as I should. It was my favorite film the year it was release. It just FELT like a comic book film and the cast is RIDICULOUS. I continue to be in lesbians with everything about it.
i liked this one a lot at the time but weirdly i never saw it a second time. i remember it being very funny and beautifully paced (for a while at least). I loved all the whip-funny cutting.
I love this film. I saw it in the theaters and had a hell of a time despite the depression I was going through that year. Yet, I really did smile during the previews when they showed a trailer for a movie produced by M. Night Shyamalan and when his name appeared. Everyone groaned in disgust and booed.
I love this film, and this is a fine analysis of it. Both the look and and the sound are first-rate and it has quite a murderer's row, casting-wise. Wong is lovely, but I think my favorites are Pill and Routh. But so many are so good. And I think this has my favorite performance ever from Brie Larson (sure, her excellent rendition of that Metric song is part of that).
I am the same as Nathaniel on this one, having watched it once and appreciating it but never revisited it. I think it has more appeal to Millennials than aging Gen Xers like me.
I will see your "Edgar Wright's best film" and raise you SHAUN OF THE DEAD and HOT FUZZ (again, probably a Gen X v Millennial thing). In fact, my personal opinion is that, in his slow descent of quality, SPvTW is the "good" bridge between his two masterpieces and his two "not bad but flawed" films of THE WORLD'S END and BABY DRIVER. (Let's hope that descent is arrested soon...)
@PP - Make it make sense.
@Cash - I feel like him being an asshole wouldn’t be so annoying if it just stopped mattering after they get to 4. His Respecting Women speedrun at the end feels so cheap.
@Richter Scale - I will absolutely watch those videos sometime soon. Loved watching the ten year reunion live read too.
@James from Ames and @ScottC - Brie Larson’s rendition of Black Sheep is so my favorite thing she’s ever done. Would love for more movies to let her do some of the stuff she does here.
@Ryan T. - I hadn’t seen it in a few years before rewatching it for this. It’s a movie I really enjoy and think about a lot but not one I really feel the need to check out very often.
@Nathaniel - I mean, it’s a pretty fun way to kill two hours if you got some free time.
@thevoid99 - I love moments like that! Audience bonding is so fun.
@Travis C - Hot Fuzz is definitely my second favorite of his film but the last parts of Shaun and Baby Driver were so unpleasant it’s hard to look back on them fondly.
Knives Chau forever!
My fave Wright film is still Hot Fuzz, then this one, then Shaun of the Dead, then The World's End...
... count me among the few that did not really get Baby Driver?
I loved Knives Chau. I was so happy when Ellen Wong showed up as a new character on “Dark Matter”, an fun ensemble tv show that’s obviously aces at casting.
At the time, I remember appreciating what a consistent whole “Scott Pilgrim” was, and how the pieces fit so beautifully together.
They understood how new technology shapes storytelling, tempo, images, relationships, and they revelled in the fun of it.
They picked actors of that age who were full of joie de vivre, originality, and a willingness to go for it.
I felt that some of the other movies of that era about new technology and the younger generation were rather patronizing. They tried to fit a younger generation into a standard older generation narrative, and got lots of praise for it. They absolutely didn’t understand the generational shift in perception and technology and modes of communicating that needed a new filmic approach.
That’s the way I thought when “The Social Network” came out. I thought, “Scott Pilgrim” gets it, “The Social Network” doesn’t.
I thought “Scott Pilgrim” didn’t reach a wider audience at the time because it was unfairly dismissed by gatekeepers as a niche movie only for teenage boys.