SCOTT PILGRIM vs. THE WORLD [2010]

A SYMPHONY OF GEEKDOM
(and it's a good thing)

2010, USA
Edgar Wright
8 // 10





Is geek culture a bad thing? Are curly hair a big problem in the summer? Is Toronto more awesome than you'd ever have guessed? There's only one way to find out!

Anyone else has got that feeling, that there can't be possibly any greater geek/teen flick ever? I mean, is there anything that this film hasn't got in the awesomeness department? It's smart, it's funny (hilarious even), contemporary, cool, fantastically thought out... I could go on and on. The characters are fantastic, the acting is supreme and Cera's mumbling ingenious. It even has got a good looking Culkin in it (as far as Culkins go). I've never read the comic and I can't comment on how does the film compare to the original, but I know one thing, had I watched it twenty years ago, I'd probably been more motivated to learn how to play an instrument. Any instrument. And it would possibly be also responsible for making Toronto the city of my dreams.

I just simply love this film. It's got enough heart and soul to spare for five typical Hollywood superhero productions and you still wouldn't feel short-changed. It is also one of those films that show how inadequate the mainstream film establishment is. When you think that the Oscar for editing in 2011 went to The Social Network and Scott Pilgrim with all its innovation and brilliance did not even get a nomination, it does make you feel that someone here is taking the piss. Is the stigmata of geekdom really that damning? But then again, does it really matter? With 81% rating at the Rottentomatoes.com I think it's safe to say that there are enough people there who did get it and gave it the credit this film more than deserves.

We can't ignore the fact that the world is changing. The culture is evolving with it. And while we should keep the candles burning in the shrines of all the Bergmans, Fellinis and Kurosawas of the past, we should not deny the Wrights of today the recognition for their fantastic work. It might be popculture, it might be mass culture but these are nothing more than descriptions. Scott Pilgrim proves how good, how crafty and artistically innovative that pop and mass culture can be. It's art, Jim, but not as we know it.