Scott Pilgrim Versus the World

Scott Pilgrim is the laziest of men. He doesn’t even qualify as ‘man’. He’s a guy. You know those people who are too old to be boys but they’re not men, they’re just guys? There you go.

He doesn’t have a job, owns nothing in his apartment and shares a bed with his gay roommate because they’re both too broke to buy a new one. Added to this, he is a bassist. In the finest tradition of bassists, he’s the guy in the band who has all the relationship issues. His latest issue, and the one Edgar Wright’s upcoming film centres on, is one based around a girl named Ramona Flowers.

Ramona V. Flowers(status: Awesome) is a delivery girl for Amazon who uses the handy portal that runs through Scott’s subconscious, so his dreams keep being interrupted by a roller blading girl with flight goggles. After some initial confusion and a couple of nice convolutions he begins an attempt to woo her, while trying to ignore the lurking sensation that there’s a worrying reason for her arrival in Toronto.

Sounds simple, yes? Your standard boy meets girl with a little interconscious travel, right? Yeah, sit down there a minute. Before any of this happened Scott had started dating a high schooler by the name of Knives Chau, and she’s not about to go out without a fight. Speaking of fights, Scott also discovers he must defeat Ramona’s seven evil ex-boyfriends. That’s right, seven. And that’s also right; defeat.

Bryan Lee O’ Malley’s manga sized series began life in 2004. It mixes game nerdism with musical variety(Scott’s band? Sex Bob-Omb, named after those wind up explosives in Mario games), western comic styles with manga and the highest of brow with the lowest of humour. It gleefully rips on tropes in every category, but this is jesting done out of affection rather than disdain. And while he may be able to chain together a 48 move combo in mid air, Scott still manages to feel real amidst all the over the top(and ludicrously enjoyable) nonsense going on around him.

Scott Pilgrim is beautifully overblown. It features boss battles and people exploding into showers of coins for God’s sake. But, alongside them it features some of the most honest depictions of romance and relationships ever. We might not ever encounter anyone quite like these people, but that doesn’t stop us feeling like we know them. Every bubble bound word out of their mouths sounds genuine and seems to be giving voice to real people rather than just joke laden ciphers. Each one is the perfect balance of real, nerdy and hilarious.

Similarly balancing nerdy and hilarious, we have Shaun of the Dead. Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s comedy horror is one of the most hilariously referential films in existence. Edgar Wright has gone on to show himself as a director who despite reverence for certain topics (Zombie and Cop Movies particularly) can send them up in the most gleeful fashion. Every action movie cliché is present and correct in Hot Fuzz, but far from being a snide indictment of some of the stupidest movies in existence, it is actually a loving tribute. As such, it would seem Edgar Wright is exactly the right man for the job (it helps that he’s not only talented, but a huge fan of Scott’s adventures).

Added to this is the fact that Irish company Voodoo Dog are handling the opening credits and visual effects. Since this is an adaptation of a comic book series that thinks it’s one big video game, there are a whole multitude of visuals that need effecting. That many of them fall into the Thok, Smash and CRAAAAASSH vein of effects only makes it better that a competent and proven company are charged with their execution. Speaking at an event at the most recent JDIFF, founder Noel Donnellon said it was “some of the most interesting but challenging work they’ve ever done. We’d known Edgar[Wright] through working with him on Hot Fuzz, and he thought this’d be good for us. The mix of styles is hugely interesting.”

However, it must be pointed out that the acting Marmite that is Michael Cera is playing the lead and title character. Scott Pilgrim is not an indie movie lead, he’s the heroic lead of a comic series that thinks it’s a game. Cera will do Scott’s likable idiocy and getting punched in the face with a conviction known only to the likes of Stanislavsky, but it remains to be seen whether or not he has the requisite levels of awesome to make Scott Pilgrim something more than just a collection of Indie movie clichés.

Also shaky is the casting of Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona. Ramona is not just the crazy hot kind of Girl Of Your Dreams, she’s also supposed to be mysterious and cool, with a potentially scarring back story. Did I say cool? Because she’s supposed to be really, really cool. The Grim Reaper playing AC/DC in space kind of cool. While she has the whole cult movie darling thing down pat,(Grindhouse and Final Destination? You’re spoiling us), it remains to be seen if she can do much above being eye candy.

While those two choices don’t inspire the hugest amount of confidence, the support casting looks to be stellar, especially where the lexicon of Ramona’s evil exes are concerned. Scott’s gay, amazingly sarcastic roommate? Kieran Culkin, kicking some serious ass. Massive, functionally retarded meathead? Hello Brandon Routh, we’re ready for you now. As Scott is usually only the source of humour via being inept, it’s heartening to see such justice being done a truly huge support cast.

Scott Pilgrim Versus the World will be in cinemas in August. If it can bring even one fifth of the fun of the comic to the big screen, it will have earned its tag as an Epic of Epic Epicness.