Scott Pilgrim vs the World (7 years on)

[canadagoose]

I remember seeing trailers for it back when it was released, and because I was the sort of twonk that avoided doing things if I could, and because I was a bitter, unhappy git, I never saw it at the time.[nb]I also think I thought I was too old for it, which is weird because I was a year younger than the protagonist at the time it came out.[/nb] However, my boyfriend convinced me to watch it tonight, and I really enjoyed it. It didn't go exactly as I expected it would, and it just seemed like a lot of fun. What did you think of it?

[Shit Good Nose]

1 - RIP Deeper Into Movies
2 - abysmal


I'm a massive film geek - it's my thing, y'see - and I have probably seen TENS of thousands of films (which is not so much a boast as an admission that I will watch, and have watched, pretty much any old shit - I have, for example, seen a lot more Ray Dennis Steckler films than is really necessary).

Scott Pilgrim is, literally, the only film I have ever seen that has gone completely over my head and totally alienated me.

I think it fills a very small niche and is aimed at a very very specific group within a very very specific age bracket.  Of which I am in none of those.

It also doesn't help that I can't stand Jason Schwartzman.

[Gulftastic]

I still enjoy watching it. Lots of fun, and some  amazing visuals.

[canadagoose]

Sorry about the wrong forum thing. Can Neil move it over please? I hadn't realised I was in the wrong bit. Sorry.

[Glebe]

Not perfect, but I enjoyed it's wit and invention. That is all.

[Icehaven]

I love it, brilliant film.

[Phil_A]

"Good evening. My name is Crash, and these are the Boyz."
"Is that girl a boy too?"
"...YES."

I too thought this film was great and was amazed it turned out to be such an opinion-splitter. Some people really hated it at the time and it didn't break even at the box office($47,000 worldwide from a $60,000 budget. Ouch) .

It always looked like it would be more of a cult hit than a huge smash but I didn't expect it to do that badly.

[Custard]

It did awfully, and pretty much ended Michael Cera's leading man career didn't it. He seemed to be everywhere before that. Now he only seems to crop up in bit parts or in a supporting role

I didn't think much of the film on first watch, but ended up quite liking it the second go round. It has a great energy and a solid cast, and is just, well, fun. It looks great too

Though I find it weird when I see boxsets with it thrown in with Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. I know it's an Edgar Wright film, but its nothing like those films

I think it might end up somewhat of a "cult favourite" as the years go by, as it does seem to become a little more fondly remembered with each passing year, slowly building a decently sized amount of fans. It's too different and unique looking not to, really. If it'd come out in the more nutty, coked-up 80's, it'd probably be much more appreciated

[greenman]

find it weird when I see boxsets with it thrown in with Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. I know it's an Edgar Wright film, but its nothing like those films

I'd say its distilled Wright visual style, gags and action without talking the plot nearly as seriously which I'd guess might well explain why it didn't do so well, disliked as a hipster film and disliked by hipsters for taking the piss? Personally I think it might be the most fun thing Wright's done.

[samadriel]

After hating the comic with all of my being, I declined to watch this, but eventually gave in to my curiosity, and  now I wish I'd caught it in the cinema. I have a major soft spot for this film, it's one of my favourite Edgar Wright bits. Nice to see it get some love in this thread, the last few times it was brought up here, there was a big hatefest.

[greenman]

After hating the comic with all of my being, I declined to watch this, but eventually gave in to my curiosity, and  now I wish I'd caught it in the cinema. I have a major soft spot for this film, it's one of my favourite Edgar Wright bits. Nice to see it get some love in this thread, the last few times it was brought up here, there was a big hatefest.

Never read the comic but I get the feelings theres a health dose of Starship Troopers to Wrights adaptation talking the piss out of it and hipster indie cinema in general?

[samadriel]

I don't really get that feeling from the film, I think it's just that Wright and his cast and the script have some charm, whereas all O'Malley can do is make references to things ("Remember Nintendo?!" Also one of the evil exes in the comics is basically Tetsuo from Akira, right down to blasting a hole in the moon. No commentary, no comedy, just a flat-out lift.) It helps that, being a film, it zips along, condensing the good ideas down (I think the core pitch, 'boy has to defeat girl's exes in combat to 'win' her over' is quite fun), whereas with the comic you're slowly reading it for volumes and volumes waiting for it to live up to its potential.

[mothman]

This film made me feel old. Or as if I was on an alien world. It bore almost no relation to any life experience I'd ever had. The revelation that very few other people seemed to have liked it either was almost a comfort.

There's the odd moment I enoyed though. "We Hate You, Please Die" would probably be my ringtone if you could get to choose your own ringtones for iPhones[nb]Actually, it'd be the theme from The Long Good Friday. Bit I'd settle for this too.[/nb]. And one of the rival bands was bsaically Metric, and it was a good song too.

[popcorn]

I'd say its distilled Wright visual style, gags and action without talking the plot nearly as seriously

Yes, I think it's very much a recognisable Wright film too, particularly the playfulness of the editing and pacing, especially the transitions. Wright makes gags from the very fabric of film. Check out how he uses sound in this clip. Scott's panicky heartbeat is actually the sound of someone testing a kick drum on the stage. I love that kind of shit.

edit: oh yes, here's a video about this sort of thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pij5lihbC6k

I also love the energy, music, visual style and general vibe of the film, although yes many hate it. I do think it's probably Wright's weakest work, as it inherited plot and character problems from the source material. Ramona is a completely boring character, for example.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I lesbians the film. At the risk of sounding shallow and predictable, it's just so much fun. It's hilariously funny, with great action scenes, an entire cast of scene-stealers and an excellent soundtrack. Then again I wasn't all that fussed about Fury Road, so maybe I'm just a freak.

Granted, it's not perfect and, having read them subsequently, I'd say the comics are more successful in a number of ways: Crucially, Ramona is actually developed in them. While I think part of the film's point is Scott learning to view her as more than his (literal) dream girl, this still leaves her as basically just a plot device. Similarly, Scott's maturation and Gideon's evil schemes are more interestingly handled by the comics.

disliked as a hipster film and disliked by hipsters for taking the piss?

I have no idea what hipsters are supposed to be at this point. The only characters that I would have thought fit the bill are the first and last evil exes. The rest are just your typical youths aren't they? Fretting on guitars and about their love lives - That's not so esoteric, is it?

I find it weird when I see boxsets with it thrown in with Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. I know it's an Edgar Wright film, but its nothing like those films

I think there are thematic links between them but, of all Wright's work, the most obvious thing to pair it with is surely Spaced.

[greenman]

Yes, I think it's very much a recognisable Wright film too, particularly the playfulness of the editing and pacing, especially the transitions. Wright makes gags from the very fabric of film. Check out how he uses sound in this clip. Scott's panicky heartbeat is actually the sound of someone testing a kick drum on the stage. I love that kind of shit.

edit: oh yes, here's a video about this sort of thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pij5lihbC6k

I also love the energy, music, visual style and general vibe of the film, although yes many hate it. I do think it's probably Wright's weakest work, as it inherited plot and character problems from the source material. Ramona is a completely boring character, for example.

Beyond the more obvious Wrightisms what really stands out for me is actually how well shot the fight scenes in it are. Hollywood pretty much always seems to have a problem with trying to shoot Hong Kong style action either making things a confused mess of having to settle for undramatic wide shots where as Wright does a much better job, dramatic closer in camera work but reasonably long takes when needed and editing that's never confused.

Accepting the flimsiness of the plot is the films main strength for me knowing that its really the visual style, performances and wit that's going to support it. That said I do love the way it mixes its fanastical and everyday aspects, it could easily have gone with the typical "down the rabbit hole" style as in his Cornetto films or just a more fantastical world generally but switching between the two aspects works really well meaning neither distracts from the other,

[Penfold]

I really like it.

It was the first film where I had read the books before it came out and it was the first and only time I've got to grump about the casting. I like Michael Cera but the manga style of the comics are full of smiles and big expressions which I don't associate with him. He was fine though. I think Jesse Eisenberg has taken a lot of his big screen thunder in the past few years but Paper Heart and Youth In Revolt are a couple of my favourite films.

I was also the right age for it as I was in my early twenties and had owned a SNES. The books benefited from taking place over a longer period of time from the film so Scott's growth felt rushed.

I saw it on the day of release and the cinema wasn't really busy which is a shame as it was also a Wednesday so half the people in there didn't pay, although the mechanisms of Orange Wednesday still confuse me. I helped fix that by buying the American Blu-Ray when it came out and then the UK version, which always helps films, like how I own DVD and Blu-Ray copies of Dredd and Manborg.

Also like soundtrack.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Beyond the more obvious Wrightisms what really stands out for me is actually how well shot the fight scenes in it are. Hollywood pretty much always seems to have a problem with trying to shoot Hong Kong style action either making things a confused mess of having to settle for undramatic wide shots where as Wright does a much better job, dramatic closer in camera work but reasonably long takes when needed and editing that's never confused.

The action scenes are such a huge leap beyond what Wright had done before that I do wonder to what extent he was really responsible for them. It's not really a fair comparison though, I suppose. After all, Hot Fuzz probably had a significantly lower budget, and most of the fights were against old duffers, so you can't really expect Matrix level action.

[Mango Chimes]

The problem is Scott Pilgrim is an unlikeable prick. And seen from the point of view of Ramona, it's bleak as all fuck.

Shame, as the visuals/music/sound/editing etc. are frequently fantastic.

Oh, and: the girl Evil Ex is an angry lesbian. The Indian Evil Ex does a Bollywood dance. The Japanese Evil Exes are all hi-tech electronics and dragons. Etc. No subversion of stereotypes or archetypes or whatevertypes; just the use of them. That sat uncomfortably.

[Penfold]

The problem is Scott Pilgrim is an unlikeable prick. And seen from the point of view of Ramona, it's bleak as all fuck.

Shame, as the visuals/music/sound/editing etc. are frequently fantastic.

Oh, and: the girl Evil Ex is an angry lesbian. The Indian Evil Ex does a Bollywood dance. The Japanese Evil Exes are all hi-tech electronics and dragons. Etc. No subversion of stereotypes or archetypes or whatevertypes; just the use of them. That sat uncomfortably.

Well a few of the exes are angry so it's not limited to the lesbian, it's a musical so the Indian guy going Bollywood isn't a shock, and Double Dragon is a popular video game from Japan.

Scott is a dick though.

This is a panel I like from the comic

[thecuriousorange]

I liked all the dorky references like the Zelda Fairy Fountain music. I actually got strangely emotional for a second in the cinema at that.

[greenman]

The action scenes are such a huge leap beyond what Wright had done before that I do wonder to what extent he was really responsible for them. It's not really a fair comparison though, I suppose. After all, Hot Fuzz probably had a significantly lower budget, and most of the fights were against old duffers, so you can't really expect Matrix level action.

He had Brad Allan(former Jackie Chan stunt guy) doing the fight choreography(same in the worlds end) but that in itself isn't really unique, lots of Hollywood films have similar but end up badly shot/edited. You look at Hot Fuzz and whilst the budget isn't really their in terms of set pieces the filming/editing of the action certainly is, albeit aping Hollywood modern action more than Hong Kong.

[Wet Blanket]

Charlie Brooker wrote an article when the American Pie Reunion film came out explaining how the original film marked the first time he realised he was losing touch with youth culture. I felt that with Scott Pilgrim. I remember seeing the trailer and really appreciating how clearly it was aiming at the new intake of cool young things, and that I would never set foot in a Topman, or go clubbing on a Tuesday ever again. So the very idea that it's now seven years old is appalling to me.

When I did see it though I quite enjoyed it. I think I like it better than any of the Cornetto trilogy.

[imitationleather]

I found this film to be total and utter tripe when I went to see it. Not watched it again since. Why would I? Can't remember exactly what I dislike about it so much but Cera's performance was a definite element. He's unable to carry a film himself. I dunno if he works in any role other than George Michael Bluth. That period when him, Seth Rogen and all those others were everywhere... People who if they'd stayed a bit on the periphery you'd think "Ooh, it's them. This will probably be good!" but they were in absolutely everything for a while and you got sick of the fucking sight of them.

Are we all absolutely certain it's seven years old, by the way? That's crazy, if so.

[Sin Agog]

Table read with most everyone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKqKLnsmoK4

[Ferris]

It's alright, but considering I'm the target age/demographic bracket, and was living in the same part of the same city playing in a rubbish garage band at the time it was released and I reckon it's fine means it has an incredibly limited niche appeal.

Fun fact - all the non-GTA characters pronounce "Toronto" like Americans, whereas Scott and co correctly say "Tronno".

[madhair60]

Comic's good, film's shit. Everything that was charming in the comic is cringeworthy in the film.

[popcorn]

Nah, nothing was charming in the comic so the film has to make up for it with good music and inventive editing

[Marner and Me]

Thought it was alright.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I tried watching [random film], but I've never been in the very exact specific situation portrayed, so I couldn't relate to it at all. I felt violated by its very existence and switched it off after ten minutes. It was the worst experience I've ever had!

That's what you naysayers are all like.