by Austin Belzer, Contributing Writer
Anyone who’s known me for any amount of time knows I love Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I saw it with a friend within a month of the theatrical release, I’ve owned a copy of the film on DVD, Blu-ray, and digitally (with an alert for any new editions of the film on Blu-ray.com), I’ve seen it at least five times (my Letterboxd logging isn’t perfect), bought the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game – Complete Edition as soon as it re-released on PC, and I’ve named my Patreon tiers after the Evil Exes. So, when Edgar Wright announced that the film would be coming back to theaters as part of a long-rumored 4K restoration, you can imagine my excitement. Unfortunately, it’s only showing in AMC Theaters that have Dolby Cinema auditoriums, and there is no 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release date in sight. So, as one of many Americans without a Dolby Cinema nearby, my disappointment is immeasurable, and my day was ruined, to quote The Report of the Week.
However, I do have access to the digital copy I bought way back in 2017. It’s not the 4K version (as that version is not available), but it is the highest quality available for the film.
Directed by the always wonderful Edgar Wright, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is as perfect of a film as Hollywood could create. Its plot is a one-to-one adaptation of the series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley (who both contributed lines to the film’s script, rewrote its ending, and supplied his notes for the then-upcoming sixth volume of the graphic novel), and (almost) every frame and every song Sex Bob-Omb plays are as well. It’s this level of attention to detail that brought the film a newfound level of attention after it bombed in theaters.
At first glance, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World‘s plot is relatively simple. Scott (Michael Cera) is a slacker in a band called Sex Bob-Omb, made up of himself (who plays a sweet Rickenbacker bass guitar), a drummer named Kim Pine (Alison Pill), a frontman named Stephen Stills (Kieran Culkin), as well as roadie Young Neil (Johnny Simmons). They win the Battle of the Bands so they can get a record deal. The problem is, Scott’s fallen in love with the new girl in town, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who just so happens to have six evil exes who have banded together as The League of Evil Exes that he must defeat to continue dating Ramona. Oh, and Scott is already dating a high school girl, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Yikes.
These complications are not lost on the pages of Michael Bacall, Edgar Wright, and (arguably) Bryan Lee O’Malley’s screenplay. Every line is sharp, biting, and just the right amount of sarcastic, passive-aggressive humor that Wright is known for. Not only that, but every line also has a hidden meaning behind it. I won’t spoil it because that wouldn’t be fun, but if you rewatch the film a few times, these small details begin to reveal themselves. For example, a line as simple as, “Bread makes you fat?!” isn’t just about the fact that Scott doesn’t realize that bread is full of carbs and that carbs make you fat, but also about the fact that Scott is still at the point in his life where he seeks other’s approval and thinks that if he becomes fat by eating all this bread, Ramona won’t love him anymore and will leave him.
The best way I can describe this soundtrack is pre-indie, as Sex Bob-Omb very clearly evokes early indie music (even enlisting Beck writing the Sex Bob-Omb tracks) then introducing us to Plumtree, Frank Black, Beachwood Sparks, Black Lips, The Bluetones, Metric, and The Rolling Stones among many others. This isn’t just another soundtrack, though. Composer Nigel Godrich uses the soundtrack to tell the story that’s not on the page to portray what’s going on in Scott’s mind throughout the film, as well as supplying some nostalgia for video gamers everywhere. This is a more modern tool in Wright’s toolbox (à la Baby Driver), but it absolutely works here. So much of the graphic novel’s story is tied up in the push and pull that’s going on in Scott’s mind while he’s fighting the Evil Exes and if this fight is even worth it.
Another thing that helps this film out is the cast. If anyone other than Michael Cera were Scott Pilgrim, it would be odd. Likewise, if Kieran Culkin weren’t Wallace Wells, we wouldn’t get Succession, and no one wants a world without Succession. Joking aside, I think this cast does well to play into the audience’s perception of them and own it by essentially playing themselves. Chris Evans is an absolute jerk here as one of the Evil Exes, Lucas Lee, but it’s so enjoyable because we know that (at that point) that’s what roles he was taking. And he gets the added benefit of hindsight that it’s actually hilarious seeing Steve Rogers be a jerk.
So, 10(ish) years after its release, does Scott Pilgrim vs. the World stand the test of time? If you’ve got nothing else from this review, get that this absolutely 100% true. Like I said earlier in the review, this is about as perfect as a film Hollywood could make.
Grade: A+