A... Perfect? Master...Piece?

Good morning Consumers, This is Please Consume, The newsletter that loves movies as much as David Cross hated being in Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

 Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)

Written by Tyler Clark

Alright, folks.

If you were following us last year when we did box office bombs, you may remember I got entirely too worked up over how much I love these movies. Well, strap in because it’s Box Office Bombs 2: Electric Boogaloo, and we’re discussing a movie and a filmmaker I love entirely too much. 

But here we go anyway; maybe one of the biggest valleys between quality and box office receipts you’ll ever see. So let’s join together to celebrate this gem and get ready to pull out the L word. Here we go! 

A… Perfect? Master… Piece?

Yes, I am coming in hot, but I really do believe this is a pitch-perfect film in every sense of the word. I believe it is perfectly cast, performed, written, directed, shot, edited—you get the point. But let’s take a second to focus on the man behind it all. 

Edgar Wright is a favorite filmmaker of mine. I love a lot of his work and am compelled by the approach he takes to filmmaking, even when I don’t necessarily agree with the results. However, I believe he has made two perfect films, the other one being The World's End, which we will save for another day.

With this film, from the word go, Wright perfectly captures not only the feeling of reading Bryan Lee O'Malley’s wonderful comic. Look at the clever tricks like using the snowfall to smear across the screen like speed lines, the way he cuts from scene to scene using whip pans, wipes, and walk-by transitions to give the effect of reading panel to panel or the fact that you hardly, if ever, see any of the anime-eyed characters blink. But Wright also perfectly puts you in the mindset of being an ADHD single adult in his early 20s with a case of arrested development (sorry for the Micheal Cera pun).

Scott Sucks!

One of the biggest complaints you hear when discussing this film is that Scott himself is a terrible protagonist. No disagreements there. But for my money, that’s what makes this film wonderful— the fact that this film is about how you are going to be an asshole in your early twenties, but what matters isn’t about your mistakes; it’s how you make things right in the aftermath. The film perfectly holds the tone of coldness in its approach but warmth in its emotions. 

[SPOILER ALERT] 

The fact that Scott wins the day not by kicking ass but by learning self-respect, how to view the world through more than just what he can get out of it, and how to lift up his friends and be honest with his emotions is absolutely beautiful to me. It pointedly doesn’t end with him and Ramona living happily ever after, rather they agree to go into the darkness together and learn who they really are as people. Also, the joke that Nega Scott (the opposite version of himself) is “He’s just a really nice guy” tells me Wright knows exactly what he’s doing in that cheeky little Wright way.

The Lasting Legacy

While this film initially bombed in theaters, like bombed bombed, it has held a really healthy life in the 13 years since its release. Wright himself has talked about how it pretty immediately found its cult following with midnight screenings and repertory screenings, and let us not forget its excellent Dolby remaster for the 10th anniversary. Apart from its mass audience, we also see its influence on the film industry; a lot of films right now are pulling from the editing style of this film, and Speed Racer (yes, we’re mentioning Speed Racer again, let it go!). It also just got an excellent spin-off show called Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, currently streaming on Netflix, featuring the entire cast—who adored making the movie, by the way—coming back to reprise their roles.

Today’s Clip

Normally, we don’t show the opening scene of the movie, studio logo, opening credits, and all, but this film uses this opening as sort of a coda, telling you what movie you are about to watch and how to watch it. It tells you to strap in, cause it’s gonna be fast, loud, and nerdy, much like the music Beck provided for the movie.

Enjoy!