cinema history class: scott pilgrim vs. the world

Session: Bring Your Own Movie Month, Week 1 (Me)
Movie: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)
Directed by Edgar Wright

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
Slacker musician, Scott Pilgrim, has found the woman of his dreams. But in order to date her he has to defeat her seven evil exes. Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:

I knew going in that it was a risk to pick this movie for BYOM month in Keith's class. There were some reasons that a rational version of me would have chosen something else:

• Ethan had seen the movie, and doesn't like it.
• I was pretty sure that Keith wouldn't like it.
• I was hanging my hat on the fact that the movies has some prominent elements. But the fact is that, at its heart, this was a young adult rom-com.

Nevertheless, I persisted. Keith encouraged me to go with it of I really love it. And so I did. I was truly unprepared for how poorly it would go over.

Ethan had trouble hooking into any of the characters, so the whole thing didn't interest him. And since he's not a big music fan, it's not as if the musical element of the movie would redeem it for him. I had hope that Christina would like the movie, since she's a big music fan. But apparently the brand of garage punk that's so prominent here is decidedly not music she likes. Sean, for his part, felt that this is the weakest of Edgar Wright's movies -- and he was annoyed that I hadn't done what he felt was the appropriate level of research (i.e., watching all of Wright's films and the TV show Spaced) in advance of this session. No one else in the class really liked any of the characters, and they all had concerns about certain creepy elements of the plot which I'll get to later.

But the big reaction was Keith's. His commentary was an apoplectic rant. SPvTW represents everything that Keith doesn't like about the last couple decades of movies. Those effects and fast cuts, the video-game stuff overlaid on the screen, the stylized fighting and jumping. He hates that shit, and finds it a bad substitute for good storytelling. As a result, he mentally disengaged pretty much at the beginning*. He spent most of the movie uncomfortably waiting for it to be over, and staring at the clock thinking things like "Shit, it's only 9:05?"

I kind of expected Keith to not like the movie, but I wasn't prepared for the depths of his disdain. Surely he'd see something positive -- The music? The humorous interplay between Scott and Wallace? The way Ramona seems to be this international woman of mystery? No such luck. So he gave it a big fat zero. And that capped off the ratings for what may have been the worst-rated film in the class' history.

As for the creepy element? As the movie begins, Scott -- a 22 year old -- is dating 17 year-old Knives Chau. And the status of that relationship (such as it is) is a big part of the movies. I recognize the ick factor, but am able to look aside in order to enjoy the movie. Others in the class -- especially Sean, not so much.

And that brings me to what has been one of my big criticisms of the movie -- and the fact that this class may have given me a better insight into it. I have always thought that Michael Cera and Ellen Wong were miscast as Scott and Knives. Cera looks too young to be 22 and Wong looks too old to be a 17-year old. In truth, Cera was born in June, 1988, so I figure he was 21 when most of the shooting was done. Wong was born in January, 1985 so she actually has nearly 3½ years on Cera. Because of this, the pairing doesn't appear to be a 22 year-old guy with a 17 year-old girl, and creates a certain amount of cognitive dissonance. But now, having seen the movie with a group and been part of an actual discussion about it, I can appreciate that the casting may have been helpful in making it feel less icky. In addition, the oddly chaste relationship helps -- Scott is not actually having sex with (or even kissing) the underage girl.

Which, brings us back to one of the problems with Michael Cera in the role of Scott Pilgrim. As the narrative unfolds we learn that Scott is quite the ladies' man, having left a trail of broken hearts. And it's really not believable. I suppose this is fantasy, and part of the fantasy is that any geeky guy can be an operator. But it is kind of hard to believe. It's much easier and more believable when we see Scott acting all clumsy and tongue-tied when he's trying to impress Ramona.

Related to all of this is the issue of the ending. There are two alternate endings -- one where Scott goes off with Knives and one where he goes off with Ramona. I prefer the Knives ending, since Ramona is a bundle of neuroses and baggage, and Scott is better off with Knives. Others prefer the Ramona ending. As Chrstina noted, Scott spent the entire movie fighting for Ramona. If he goes off with Knives at the end, that means that he's back where he started and hasn't really grown at all. It also re3turns us to the ick factor.

So why, with all these negative factors, do I love this movie to the point that I wanted to bring it to class for BYOM month? It's hard to say. I think the biggest thing for me was the music -- I love the The Sex Bob-Omb performances. But I also enjoy the humor. I dunno. I just like it. This is one of those movies that I keep coming back to and watching. Or watching clips of. But I guess Keith won't be doing that.

There's part of me that regrets bringing this to class. And a big part of that is the fact that it was a stretch to argue that this belongs in a class focused on horror, science fiction and fantasy. My excuse was that there are major fantasy elements. But at least this actually brought out some good conversation, and I actually got to give the movie -- and my criticism of its casting much more seruious thought than I had in the past. So, as much as the movie was a flop, the session can be called a success.

Ratings:

Christina: 2
Ethan: 4

Keith: 0
Sean: 1 out of 4

*I did hear him laugh at the name when the character Stephen Stills was introduced. Or maybe that was a scoff.