sat 16/11/2024

Scott Pilgrim vs The World | reviews, news & interviews

Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Eerily youthful Michael Cera thwacks his way through Toronto looking for love

Zap! Ka-pow! Snore! Michael Cera gets Mary Elizabeth Winstead, after a tiresomely kinetic courtship

Far be it from me to complain when the eternal geek is reborn as a man of action. But perhaps I'm not sufficiently a video game kinda guy - Okay, let's come clean, I've never played one - to get into Scott Pilgrim vs The World, the inoffensively if incessantly violent romcom in which an eerily youthful Michael Cera gets to go "Ka-pow!" an awful lot before he finally gets a girl that doesn't in any actual way seem a sensible match. There are chortles to be had, and Lord knows the (English) director Edgar Wright keeps enough visual balls going simultaneously to ensnare even the most ADD-afflicted viewer.

Far be it from me to complain when the eternal geek is reborn as a man of action. But perhaps I'm not sufficiently a video game kinda guy - Okay, let's come clean, I've never played one - to get into Scott Pilgrim vs The World, the inoffensively if incessantly violent romcom in which an eerily youthful Michael Cera gets to go "Ka-pow!" an awful lot before he finally gets a girl that doesn't in any actual way seem a sensible match. There are chortles to be had, and Lord knows the (English) director Edgar Wright keeps enough visual balls going simultaneously to ensnare even the most ADD-afflicted viewer.

Scott's quest for romance requires that he lay waste to Ramona's seven far-from-friendly exes

Share this article

Comments

There's probably a PhD thesis to be written about this review. About the distillation of our critical voices such that, while you could comment cogently on the merits of a French film about Algerian refugees, you're flummoxed by a film that addresses your own popular culture. The fact that you can only address such a film with derision and high-minded condescension (I'm very sorry that you've never seen the word "thonk" before) is one thing. But you seem also to have put your own prejudices about films for the masses onto this review (What's all this about Scott Pilgrim "bulking up?" At what point is muscle mass ever mentioned in this movie?). Thank you though for the biting observation that Mary Elizabeth Winstead shares at least 7/8 of the syllables in her name with syllables in other actresses names. That is truly the stuff of great criticism. Kenneth Tynan would be proud.

Add comment

The future of Arts Journalism

 

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters