Quartile rating: 8.5/10 · 4 ratings
As bass guitarist for a garage-rock band, Scott Pilgrim has never had trouble getting a girlfriend; usually, the problem is getting rid of them. But when Ramona Flowers skates into his heart, he finds she has the most troublesome baggage of all: an army of ex-boyfriends who will stop at nothing to eliminate him from her list of suitors.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a genuinely singular film — Edgar Wright's hyper-kinetic visual language, blending video game aesthetics, comic book panels, and live action into a seamless whole, earns a top Cinematography mark. Its novelty is equally exceptional; no film before or since has so fully synthesized graphic novel, video game, and indie music culture into a coherent cinematic grammar. The plot is serviceable but thin — a series of boss fights dressed up in romantic-comedy logic — and the acting is charming but uneven, with Michael Cera's deadpan divisive and the ensemble of exes underwritten. The ending resolves satisfyingly enough but leans on emotional convenience rather than earned catharsis.