Once again I am recommending a movie that a lot of reviewers disliked. Some of them seemed to think it should be revoked, or limited in distribution to those under 20 years of age. I am not a gamer and I am not male and I am old. I am therefore nothing like the demographic this movie is aimed at, and I liked it immensely.
The movie is almost like a video game. If life were a video game, this would be it. There are seven levels--the seven ex-boyfriends of the beautiful Ramona, and each ex is increasingly difficult to defeat, but that must be done in order to get the girl. So much for woing her. That is so 20th century. Here, winning the girl has an entirely different meaning.
The film is based on the graphic novels of the same name, and follows the life of 22 year old bass player Scott Pilgrim. He's unemployed, in a local Toronto rock band and dating a high school girl named Knives (played by Ellen Wong). His life is just as he likes it until he meets a girl named Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Ramona is tragically hip, cool, tough and beautiful and she first appears to Scott in a dream. Scott immediately falls for her, stalks her, and then corners her into going out with him. She reluctantly goes on a date with him but then falls for him as well. Everything seems perfect until Scott discovers he must do battle with and defeat seven of her evil exes. Her most current ex Gideon (Jason Schwartzman) formed a league of the evil exes in order to kill Scott and win back Ramona. Surprisingly Scott has super powers, as do all the exes, and is quite the force to reckon with. As he kills each ex they break into coins and Scott earns power points (just like in a video game) that help him improve in life and make him stronger.
The movie is more ridiculous than it sounds, it's like nothing you've ever seen before and at times I was truly asking myself 'What am I watching?' but the style of the movie grows on you and by the end I was in love with it. The movie is so alternative, witty and hip it's almost too cool for it's own good but in the end it works. It manages to tone down it's relentlessness enough to have some touching and honest moments. It is one of the most original and crazy artistic achievements in film I've seen. It really stands apart, with the exception of 'Kickass', which has some of the comic book comedic violence this film has. This genre is a breath of fresh air.
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