The opening reels of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” are so fast and so funny that you say to yourself there’s no way they can keep up this wild pace until the end.
And they can’t. But the movie’s still a gas.
Based on a popular comic book by Bryan Lee O’Malley, the film comes close to approximating — or at least getting near the spirit of — the experience of flipping through a comic: strong visual compositions, onscreen words, blink-and-you-miss-them non sequiturs.
Scott Pilgrim, played by Michael Cera, is a young Toronto dude who plays in a band and hangs out a lot. Most of the movie revolves around his new crush on Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), whose romantic history is as colorful as her aggressively dyed hair.
Unfortunately for Scott, he doesn’t learn this until he’s hooked. You see, people, Ramona has seven relationships in her past; and Scott must battle her seven exes before he can claim her.
Wow. Love in Toronto is really complicated. All of the exes seem to have supernatural powers or something, and I guess Scott does too; everything here is pitched to the slightly stylized unreality of a comic book.
But the plot is actually the least cool thing about “Scott Pilgrim.” In fact, as the movie goes on and you realize that Scott still has four more exes to battle, the whole set-up becomes a distraction.
The hilarity of the movie comes from director Edgar Wright’s headlong approach, which combines lickety-split forward motion with well-timed deadpan asides.
Nobody’s better at deadpan asides than Michael Cera, late of “Youth in Revolt” and “Year One.” Cera, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the much more assertive Harpo Marx, has apparently worn out his welcome with some, but not me. Great comic timing is great comic timing, and he’s got it.
Winstead is a splendid romantic foil, although Scott also has his hands full with a high-school senior (Ellen Wong) who adores him. The exes include some recognizable names, including Chris Evans and Jason Schwartzman.
But actually the whole cast is on top of it. “Up in the Air” Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick is Scott’s sister, Kieran Culkin his sardonic gay roommate and Michael Webber, Alison Pill and Johnny Simmons the members of Scott’s band.
The characters are so quickly and vividly sketched, they might’ve jumped out of a 1930s screwball comedy — you actually wish you could see more of each cast member, which isn’t often true.
If only they weren’t put in service of the vanquishing-exes plot that takes up the final 45 minutes of the movie. It’s still fun and Edgar Wright, who directed the hilarious “Shaun of the Dead,” is obviously a guy with skills. This movie doesn’t need a sequel, but hire everybody for another project, pronto.
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