The film follows Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) who is in a band called the "Sex Bob-ombs" as he chases after the girl of his dreams (literally) Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as he has to fight his way through her seven evil exes in a series of video game-inspired battles.
The acting was pretty strong across the board (not that any of the roles were overly demanding) and Michael Cera was definitely still playing Michael Cera, although the world he is in completely fits his character. The dialog is fast-paced and full of hilarious Michael Cera-type humor which is enhanced by the style of the movie. For example, Scott is confused at one point, then the camera zooms in on his head showing a meter that points from "no clue" quickly to "gets it". And many times you will hear the music to an old classic video game like Zelda or Final Fantasy playing in the background. It's quirks like these that really make the movie.
The editing was by far my favorite part of this movie. Video game health bars, coins, awesome kung-fu action sequences, words like "POW!" and "BAM!" flying across the screen are all done so flawlessly and appropriately that without them, the movie would have been an awkward, limp mess.
The opening title was the best I have seen in a long time. I've grown pretty tired of the boring title card in plain white letters that fades in and out during opening dialog and even Christopher Nolan's change-up title at the end of his films lost its appeal after Batman Begins. But Scott Pilgrim blew my mind with the roaring rock music with the comic-book sketches zooming around the band in the slow zoom-out title sequence. Its worth seeing the movie if only for the creative visuals like that one.
However, the story can get a little chick-flicky at times and some of the fights with the exes are longer or weirder than they should have been which detracts from the other, better written parts of the movie. Don't go in expecting a great inventive story or deep meaning. This movie is strong where it is strong which is in being funny, quirky, flashy, and fun.
Scott Pilgrim really plays more like a live-action comic book than a movie adaptation of a comic book (unlike the recent Marvel films). I'm glad to see a movie that really "gets it" when following the form of their source material and I hope other filmmakers will take a hint from the way Scott Pilgrim was shot in making their own movies that are based off existing comics, cartoons, or books (and we know there are quite a few of those coming out soon). If you even partially fit in the target audience for this movie, enjoy Michael Cera humor, or like flashy visuals I recommend this movie for you.
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