2010 rom-com fantasy mayhemRating: 15/20
Plot: 22-year-old Pilgrim's on the rebound after being dumped by his girlfriend. He spends his time playing with his band, Sex Bob-ombs (Mario reference), and hanging out with his high school girlfriend, Knives. They've even held hands. One night and falls for Ramona. Things are going well as they start dating, but soon, her evil ex-boyfriends start appearing out of nowhere to battle Scott, Mortal Kombat style!
I'm not a gamer although I have spent considerable amounts of time with a joystick, and yes, I'm aware there's a double meaning there. I'm not a comic book guy, and I probably wouldn't have known this was based on graphic novels if not for Kairow. Romantic-comedy ain't my genre, and over-the-top action movies annoy me. I really doubt, since I'm fastly approaching elderly, that I'm anywhere near the right demographic. Scott Pilgrim is a loud, often repetitive assault on the senses, a barrage of wackiness and fantastical mischief. But you know what? It's a hell of a lot of fun! It's a fervent and fresh approach to your old boy-meets-girl story, managing to have a style of its own despite plagiarizing from everything from the Batman t.v. show to Donkey Kong. It's a potpourri of pop-culture regurgitations, spewing technicolor from the television screen right in my lap, but I didn't mind a bit. The pace is rapid, and the jokes come a mile a minute. Not all of them connect (more than a few probably because I'm twice as old as Michael Cera) but it's stuffed full with so many of them that the fpm (funny per minute) is still impressive. Speaking of Michael Cera, an actor young enough to be my son, he plays the same character he always plays but with bushier hair. I still like that character, but I wonder what's going to happen to this kid's career when he hits puberty. Creative, energetic and, if not especially meaningful, lots and lots of fun. I would definitely see it again.
Beck (the American Cornelius) and Cornelius (the Japanese Beck) did songs for this.
This is a tough one for me to judge. Immediately after it was over, I thought I didnt like it at all. Then I wanted to watch it again, simply for the visuals. Then I realized I laughed, more than once, at the very well done humor in this thing. I think its a movie that kind of runs out of steam, rather than builds to a big conclusion. I found I liked each killer boyfriend a little less than the last one. I thought the best one was the first one, but I also really enjoyed Brandon Routh as the SuperVegan, and Chris Evans was great as the skater dude/action actor. It was getting pretty old by the time the one girl ex shows up, (And this disappointed me, because that girl ex was also Michael Ceras girlfriend on Arrested Development, the greatest television show of the last decade) the asian twins were faceless and useless, and finally we came to Jason Schwartzman. I know this is going to be unpopular, but I simply dont like Jason as an actor. I think he is really bad at his job, and I thought he was especially weak in this movie. (I did enjoy him in Rushmore, but that was a billion years ago.)
ReplyDeleteThis is a fun movie, filled with fun people and a fun premise. Its as empty as a movie can get, but it still entertained me. I think your score is about right. A 15 from me as well.
I really wanted to like this more, but after an hour or so, when the novelty wore off, it began to get on my nerves.
ReplyDeleteI like Cera, but his almost total lack of sexuality (and alto voice) makes it almost impossible to see any chemistry between him and the two main girls (it doesn't help that the hair-changer is also fairly boring and kind of a bitch). There was nothing that really convinced me that he had any desire for her.
The action and style were fun, but so over-the-top that it was impossible to feel this as a believable emotional experience. It is simply a gimmick in the guise of a movie. It's like you needed an internal translator to turn what was on the screen into a story you could connect to, and that was a lot of work.
"Pilgrim" is fun (or tries very hard to be), wildly inventive, and unpredictable in a predictable way. Unfortunately, turning a movie into a psuedo video game gives it the flaw of most video games...it is kind of fun while your watching, but leaves no emtional connection to it when you're done. It also feeels like a film where the makers are manipulative, trying to make the next big thing, with quotable lines. In this, they failed. I give it credit for originality, but can only give a 13.
Yeah, I was waffling...couldn't decide between the 14 and 15 and spent (literally) over twelve hours shivering in a pool of my own sweat, blood, and urine. My feelings were similar to Barry's. I kept wanting to focus on the negatives, almost trying my hardest not to like it. I just ended up liking it. I do agree that the movie loses steam, starts to become a little redundant. And it's very gimmicky, to the point where a lot of people would be annoyed by it. Especially old people.
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree about Cera and his "lack of sexuality" though...I think the guy oozes sexuality.
Kairow? Where you at?
Oh, yeah...Barry is completely right about 'Arrested Development,' too. And when the 'Arrested Development' movie finally gets made, I'll meet you at the theater to see it with you! I can say that since that thing's unlikely to ever get made.