Be Excellent To Each Other

The worst thing about Scott Pilgrim is the sheer depth of the pit of guilt that would swallow me whole if I even tried to reveal any of the utterly wonderful jokes and conceits played out in the movie. Remember that bit from Spaced with the argument between Tim and Daisy in the guise of a Tekken fight? Well it's got that sort of thing in it, but like some infinite and impossible wedding cake where each stage of Scott's quest gets even bigger and funnier as they big up the joke, and yet remaining somehow dwarfed by the sheer lovable nature of the characters surrounding it.

Scott Pilgrim is utterly wonderful for the following ten spoiler free reasons...

Firstly, it does not mention or allude to Star Wars at any point. This is massively important. Star Wars has been used for so long as a tedious geek crutch despite it being utterly strip-mined for jokes, homages and pastiche. It's a fucking lazy shrug-yer-shoulders option for todays script-writers hoping for geek-kudos and cheap and desperate fanboy-laughs. Scott Pilgrim doesn't even acknowledge the existence of the film. Scott Pilgrim is Year Zero. Scott Pilgrim comes up with its own jokes. Scott Pilgrim looks for laughs in the most unlikely of places.

Yes, it has its own jokes. Many, many jokes. And they are very funny. Cute jokes. Dark jokes. Sick jokes. And when the allusions come they are inventive and plot-relevant and sweet and work for those who don't know the source material. Scott Pilgrim is the Anti-Family Guy.

Secondly, Scott Pilgrim has immediately memorable characters and a pretty damn large cast of them at that. Out of the friends and foes that exist in the world of Scott Pilgrim only two are sort of forgettable, and even then they have an awesome moment, are a twinned entity and are merely passed over due to limited screen time. Pleasingly, Scott's friends do not orbit him and do not consider him the best thing since sliced bread. They have their own off-screen lives, their own jokes, fancies and hates and you get the feeling they'd be equally at home without him - but, y'know, they're his friends. Special kudos to Scott's flat-mate for getting many legitimate, well-earned laughs with dark humour and charm. Each character fills an almost computer-gamey seperate class of Co-Op 'friend/henchman' they are so well defined. No matter how brief the screen-time, each character and each actor gets their great moment. Ultimately everyone is beautiful, no one is hateful.

Next. Third. Scott Pilgrim looks and sounds utterly lush. The heart shaped bokeh. The way the fights move fast and genuinely furious and yet you can still completely follow every move and pick up on all the little gags. The sheer speed of the film and the amount it packs in, yet all the moments that let you breath with a cute joke or lovely moment. It's one of the most beautifully balanced comedy films I've ever seen. Seemingly breathless but utterly relaxing. There are some shots in this film that I'd love as a poster. Nira Park's production is lovingly detailed but never overwhelming, Actors come first. The location filming is evocative and memorable, it doesn't sprawl around pointlessly elaborate places every single scene but knows where to hold set-pieces and where to take a breather. Edgar Wright's direction is a step up from his other films so far - even faster somehow but more focused. It has the editing technique of Spaced and this carries into the way he handles his cast with them playing to the strengths of direction and trusting in his comic-book stylee.

Fourth, the cast. Anyone who moans about Michael Cera please kindly slap in the face, sharply, but with a concerned affection hoping for their eventual redemption. It's the part he was born to play. Everything else was seemingly a tutorial for him fighting this battle. George Michael Jnr's gawkiness and slowness, the sort of gauche, chinless indie schtick but mixed in with plentiful moments of genuine bad-assery and superb dark humour. The supporting cast: equally awesome. This is a film that everyone involved in clearly had a blast making and understood. And the object of Scott's desires is clearly lust worthy. Cera becomes a viable replacement for Pegg, as Wright plays to his strengths and ekes out an equally wrong-footing amusing hero that he gets out of Pegg's Tim Bisley - whilst being an utterly different character.

Fifth - the number of quotes you'll be wanting to spurt out in future. Until people hate you. This is a film that lodges in the mind and has the charm to get away with not paying the rent.

Sixth, the knowledge of computer games and the way it makes them work for both the jokes and the plot - but more importantly the discipline of its references. Piling on continous surprises each new reveal is greeted with a welcome and surprised chuckle from me. You get the feeling they could have put even more references in there, but again all of them are directly related to the plot and the characters. There are no cheap laughs.

Seventh. It kept surprising me. IT KEPT SURPRISING ME. Each epic battle Scott Pilgrim had to fight was inventive in new and different ways, and played superbly to different genres. And I could tell what was going on! No matter how fast the film got it never opted for the cheap 'director can't choreograph for toffee' fast-cut beloved of Bay. Each fight flowed and had new clever ideas in it.

Eighth... a plot that you really feel caught up in. There isn't much tension really, it has the usual 'second act loss of faith' but plays it so well and mines such laughs out of it, but at the same time it's all so sweet and has such truthful echoes. It really knows the painful variations of breaking up and trying to pull. It knows the impossible dreams of frankly sub-par small-time indie bands. Scott is a character you can laugh at, mock and yet rout for at the same time.

Ninth, it knows and loves its source material. Its scarcely believable but this is an adaptation of a comic book that revolves around computer games - when it comes to source material the two big banes of decent films - and makes something wonderful. Can you appreciate what a miracle this is? Stop looking for bloated big-budget films rendering shite triple-A title plots that barely made sense on play-through by wheezily slopping their bloated, saggingly scripted prophecy-driven toss onto the screen. I'm looking at you, all computer game related films excepting laudable documentary King of Kong. This film, Meester Scott Pilgrim, distills what is glorious about computer games by tangentially applying their hyperbolilc sheen to real life instead of the other wrong-land way round other films try.

Tenth. I simply fucking love this film. Reason enough.

I honestly don't think there's anything at all bad about it. Film critics call out perfect films as those that have weighty themes, deep characters, texture and depth and a philosophical meaning that says something out human nature. Well and good. Music critics on the other hand are happy dealing out perfect scores to albums and songs that simply make us dance and grin and feel implausibly good about ourselves and the world at large - songs that make us heroes out of simple, everyday feeling. As Shakespeare said, no one is a villain in their own story. The implication is that everyone is a hero. Scott Pilgrim understands this. This film makes me grin helplessly. It has brightened my week, maybe my month.

And there isn't a sour note or a wrong move. It's a perfect film.

I give it ten out of ten.



Film of the year. Scott Pilgrim, you're beautiful.

If chinless.

Great writing, Pete

You disappoint me, Pete.

Ta! / Bah!

Did I mention it has the best fights in a film ever? I shall go back and put that in.

I love your reviews. And you've reminded me I really need to see this.

Actually, I must admit to having been impressed with the fights. And the female lead.

Just saw this today and I totally agree.

You've sold it too me, Pete.

How are you not paying the bills with writing, man?

Pull yer finger out!

I agree with Pete.

Have you read the comic pete? I haven't and I think I'm the better off for not reading that before the film. A lot of fans of the comic complain about characters lacking depth, in particular Scott and Ramona. I think they're right that they don't have a huge amount of depth but it doesn't matter. Too much depth to them would ruin the flow of the film.

Nah, not read the comic mate. Didn't hinder me in any way. I think I will read it now - we have 'em in the library though naturally they're all out at the moment. As for the fans complaints, well I'm so tired of bloated comic book adaptations crawling across the screen ponderously through trying to be everything the fans want that I'd be sort of relieved to hear this if I hadn't already seen it. Pilgrim's funny and fast and clever and fascinating. It has a big heart and a broad smile and it doesn't need deep character interaction. You're right, it would ruin the flow of the film.

I was really worried before seeing the film that it would be too frenetic. It was but at the same time that was one of its biggest strengths. It was a brethless beautiful dance from start to end. The fight scenes make the Dark Knight/Inception look like toddlers throwing tantrums. You could see every graceful move.

I haven't read a single comic of anything, ever. That way, I get to avoid whinging when I see film adaptations of them and view them entirely on their own merits. Though unfortunately I'm not immune to the book -> film conversions.

Sold! I'm going to see this next week!

Ace writing again Pete!

Me too.

"but, y'know, their his friends"

Honestly...

"but at the same time its all so sweet".

Dreadful.

I told you this film was good!

Oh no! 'Their his'!

'Its all so'

And I thought I'd got 'em all!

Don't worry I got 'em in the copy I put up on bits.of.beex.co.uk

I might remove it from bits.of on the basis that we shouldn't publicise opinions that are wrong in their entirety.

Then how can you even access the site?

Just been to see it off the back of this review. Thought it was very poor indeed, with occasional good bits. Very, very repetitive though - takes ages to get going and then once it does you wish it would stop.

4/10

Well you are clearly a wrong. So there.

You've put about as much effort into that retort as they put into keeping me excited by this film. Over and over and over the one-note fight shtick was milked... I didn't get this bored with the fight scenes in LotR for pity's sake and it all culminated with Jason Bateman's dull turn during which I was ready to go to sleep where it not for the headache the film had already given me. The housemate, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and, I dunno, probably some other stuff were very good but overall it's the kid from Juno/Superbad has yawnsome battles with ex boyfriends for no reason, other than



...and round and round and round it goes. I'm interested in reading the comics now though, and it looks like a decent interactive comic app of it is available for Android, so once I've digested that I might torrent the film and see it with the same eyes I saw and loved Watchmen.

As a stand alone film though it's got a paper-thin grip on my affections, I can't remember a single gag from it and it only finished at six.

Still... Mary Elizabeth WINstead was named well.

I agree with that in its entirety.

I want the choon that's playing when he runs into the

in the alley.

I want the



.

Also.

I believe that is Anne off Arrested Development.

It is.

Also, Govt. Yard and Craster have set up their own Tree-House Club of Wrong over this. With little paper hats, proclaiming their wrongness.

Interestingly, the general media seem split between absolutely awesome scores and distinctly 'meh' scores - either 10/10 or 4/10's all the way. Time to decide which camp you're in.

IT WAS FUNNY AND SURPRISINGLY AWESOMELY EXCITING. 10/10.

Here's my review.



Yes, remember that bit? Well, SPVTW has two jokes. One of them is hilarious and is near the end of the film. The other one is "ZOMG IT'S LIKE AN ARCADEZ GAME" and it lasts for the entire of the film.

Sorry. One-trick pony. Ramona was lovely, mind.

Airplane has two jokes. One is like, hey, remember that film Airport and how po-faced it was? HA HA HA! The other is like, hey, let's have a load of sight gags and one-liners playing against the audience's genre expectations!

I spend most of my days wanting to run around screaming "WE ARE SEX BOB-OMB!".

Also, Craster, in spoilers or PM, which was the hilarious gag?

I think I might buy this when it's out on whatever.

Is that because when blond elf-boy up-turns his shield and 'surfs' down the staircase it is both funny and sexy? And when he swings up under the horse and lands on its back it is just very sexy? It is, isn't it? (Rest of fight was boring).

“I AM ORLANDO BLOOM AND I'M HERE TO WHISPER AND BE A GAY ELF AND STUFF.”

You have my axe.

The difference being I laughed at all that stuff in Airplane, and still do, because it's funny.

/edit having tried the first chapter of the Android comic, I can see how the film is a good implementation of the printed story, so much like anyone who enjoyed V for Vendetta in the pictures, they'll get a lot more out of the book I reckon.

There was just something about the way The Scott Pilgrim film did things that had me constantly grinning and I loved the way the fights looked. I think the gay flatmate was handled very well. Far better than in Doctor Who.

The odd thing is I adored Scott Pilgrim, it's one of my favourite movies ever, and yet I can scarcely remember any actual jokes from it (bar the whole bunch of stuff around his battle with the bass player).

Yet I remember that I grinned all the way through the film.

Same here. Though is it just me or did someone say 'You will pay for your insulin!' (rather than insolence). Probably me.

I think it was insolence.

Some amusing bits that I smile about when I remember!

Was the only one of those that was actually funny.

Craster, you seem to have left your soul somewhere; at least 2 3 4 more of Pete's memories are funny.

Stuff I have since remembered:

Best film ever. Perfect in every way. FUIUD.

I spent the whole film either laughing or grinning. Girl I was with said she spent most of the film watching my insanely enthusiastic reactions.

Favourite dork-out bits:




Egg.

The Seinfeld bit maybe went on a beat too long but yeah, very funny .

I've never watched Seinfeld so I don't know what that bit was. Was it the bit which was a bit like a sit com with audience? Is Seinfeld any good then? It's always looked a bit crap to me.

Also the audience that I saw the film with were laughing at it too. Which is unusual here. I think everyone totally got it there, which is definitely remarkable for here.