Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Friday, June 5 - Saturday, June 6, 2015

Chosen by Tejon G., floor staff

DCP projection “SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD is the first rock & roll kung fu videogame youth love story. Directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead), it’s based on a comic-book series by Bryan Lee O’Malley. At times, it may remind you of other films adapted from graphic novels (notably Ghost World), and even of Wes Anderson, but it’s got a madly clever and playful let’s-try-it-on prankishness all its own. It also has Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim, a 22-year-old Toronto slacker who plays bass in a band called Sex Bob-Omb and is something of a babe magnet. Cera, with nerdy-verging-on-girly gestures, a voice that sounds like it hasn’t broken yet, and his overall turtle-ish vibe, may be the unlikeliest leading man in the history of cinema — but let’s be clear that I mean that as a compliment. Geeky as he is, he’s so fast, his line readings driven by a hunger that never spills into self-pity, that he gets you on his wavelength by staying one ironically desperate step ahead.

“The movie, with its charming visual tropes (phones that literally go ‘Ring,’ a wheel of fortune that offers Scott two possible responses, one of which he takes), is a romantic comedy that moves at the speed of texting. Scott starts off by dating Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), a high school student who adores him; he then falls for Ramona (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a violet-haired, doe-eyed punk fatale with seven ”evil exes” he must defeat, as if they were videogame levels, to win her over. Winstead, a born star, is like a kewpie-doll Edie Sedgwick. She makes Ramona a girl worth fighting for, and fight Scott does.” – Entertainment Weekly

  • Country USA
  • Rating PG-13
  • Running Time 112 minutes
  • Director Edgar Wright

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.