In life there are injustices. Such as the fact that I’ve already
run out of jokes that compare box office failure to something that
would embarrass my sister and so can’t keep doing the same
introduction to these things that I planned to make a running joke.
The
Unsungs #3
It’s
not that hard to see why Scott Pilgrim VS The World flopped and flopped hard. It’s a film
that was destined to become a cult hit with a certain area of the
demographic, but how many cult hits are there that managed to recoup a
near 100-million dollar budget. Even with Edgar Wright behind the
camera, you have to assume an accountant’s computer somewhere set
itself to dickhead-mode when it approved that one.
SPVTW (as it
will now be known because I’m far too lazy to keep typing it all
out) is the sort of film that isn’t hard to guess other people’s
reactions to. For example, if I was to sit down with my family to
watch it, I’m confident enough to say that my Mum would call it
weird, my Dad would call it silly and my sister would probably (I do
have slight doubts on this one) call it shit. I bloody love it
though.
Describing the plot
is a tricky one, not because of any real complications but because
it’s hard to do without making it seem either incredibly bland or
the stupidest thing ever. Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is dating Knives Chau (Ellen
Wong), but also finds himself smitten with the new girl in town,
Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). As things get more serious
between him and Flowers, Pilgrim must deal with the general
disapproval of those around him as well as (this is the bit I don’t
like explaining) the fact that in order to stay with Ramona he must
defeat all of her seven evil exes whilst also dealing with some other startling realities in life.
If you haven’t
seen this, then I’m going to assume that you may have seen Baby
Driver and you will have almost definitely seen Hot Fuzz.
If you haven’t seen either of those, piss off, you are no longer
welcome here.
Both of those films
work with a similar strategy to this; serving as a tribute to its influences whilst also throwing director Edgar Wright’s own creative spin on it. Here,
Wright is paying homage to nerd culture (I’m sorry, I despise that
term, but I couldn’t think of a better one). Video game and comic
book references are abundant here in a kinetic rush of style over
substance. You can try to catch your breath, or you can drown in a sea of flashy effects and...
Perhaps the financial failures are the best
thing that could have happened to SPVTW in the end. It’s also
prevented it from becoming so far ingrained into popular culture
that you become sick of the mere mention of it by virtue of incessant quoting. Example:
So, by virtue of the fact that I can still enjoy this film,
I’m happy for it to remain a cult classic. On the other hand,
the number one film on the weekend this tanked was The
Expendables.
NINE out of 10
