Best in Show: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Exuberantly committed fans of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World had a rough weekend when the film version of the beloved comic opened to a mere $10 million or so at the box office, despite a whirlwind of hype. (In its second weekend it took a standardish 53% drop). But here’s the continually forgotten truth about cult movies: by definition, they aren’t blockbusters. Their charms are only super sized to specialized audiences.



The movie is based on a clever series of graphic novels about a lazy 23-year-old in Toronto named Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera). He plays bass in the band Sex Bob-omb. He falls hard for Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) but in order to win her heart, he has to defeat her seven evil exes in battle. These battles are staged like video games, complete with point scoring and extra lives. The hyper pacing and gamer aesthetics may be most digestible for young viewers, but there are cross-generational pleasures, too: wit and good acting know no age limitations.

One of the joys of uniformly strong ensembles is that each viewer will have a different favorite character...

Read the rest at Tribeca Film

(I hope you're liking my "Best in Show" series there.)
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