Cast: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jason Schwartzman
Directed by: Edgar Wright
Written by: Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright
Genre: Action/Adventure

For the most part, Scott Pilgrim is a typical teenager. He spends his time rocking out in his band Sex Bomb Omb, eating garlic bread, mooching off of his roommate, and crushing on girls. When he falls for Ramona, the new girl in town, he gets more than he bargained for – and not just because it means having to break up with his current girlfriend. Before he can date Ramona, he is forced into battle, and must defeat, her seven evil exes. Scott is not a fighter, (or much of a lover for that matter,) and must find the inner strength to persevere.

To think that only a decade ago director Edgar Wright was directing the low budget television series Spaced is kind of mind boggling. In only ten years, Wright has sharpened his directorial skills into something otherworldly. To call Scott Pilgrim ‘stylish’ is completely misjudging the sui generis of this film. It is the one flick most unlike any other film released in the last… well… ever. So much so, that it is hard to exactly pinpoint its influences, unless supercharged nostalgia comes in a tangible form. The closest description for the experience of Scott Pilgrim, (and believe me, it is an experience unlike any other) is that it is like getting electrocuted while attempting to blow into an old Nintendo system while trying to play your favorite game.

This is anything but a typical world. Comic book exclamations (“Vroooom! Pow!”) and video game noises make mundane activities extraordinary. This is the truest of adaptations in terms of style and flair, capturing the sheer energy from the graphic novels, defining a generation that has up until now only been characterized without real expressionism, and most importantly, cranking up the entertainment knobs to eleven.

Wright has somehow managed to take a cast of non-action stars and create perfectly electrifying and cohesive action sequences. “Michael Cear and Jason Schwartzman engage in an epic kung-fu sword battle” does not evoke the most serious of reactions, but the final battle of Pilgrim elicits some of the biggest cheers of the year. And while the actors certainly hold their own, it is the brilliant artistry of Edgar Wright that makes this the intense ride that it is. Scott Pilgrim is destined to become a cult classic, though it will always deserve more attention than it receives.

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