Scott Pilgrim

What to make of a movie that notches up an 81% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes scoreboard and ends up labelled one of the biggest box-office bombs of 2010? Has it been over-rated or under-appreciated?

Scott Pilgrim vs The World is the adaptation of a graphic novel series created by a Canadian (Franco-Chinese) cartoonist telling the epic tale of young Scott Pilgrim's battles with the seven death-threatening exes of his heart's desire. As a witty overview of modern youngsters' love and personality issues, and a spectacular spoof of action fantasies, it's a rare comic romp.

Universal Studios entrusted the screen adaptation and direction to a new kid on the block of movie comedies, Edgar Wright. His spoofs of horror and crime genres, starring fellow-Brit Simon Pegg, (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) had scored well, even in the USA. For the title role, they signed up Michael Cera, a Canada-born actor in the critically-acclaimed three-season Arrested Development TV comedy series who'd also earned good ratings for Juno and Superbad.

The studio then further defied the nationalist traits of American cineplex crowds by maintaining the comic hero's home city as Toronto and casting other Canadians in lead roles. Cameo roles went to some better-known American actors (Jason Rushmore Schwartzmann, Chris Fantastic Four Evans, Brandon Superman Returns Routh, Thomas Hung Jane), but none of them had major drawing power.

Wright was expected to create big-screen MTV-stylishness, trendy special effects, a stream of high-amp pop music and a cool, comic tone that would wow the teens and amuse their elders. I suspect the producers were more interested in the US$30 million of Canadian tax credits that reduced their budget to US$60 million. As the movie grossed little more than US$30 million at the USA box office, Wright's reputation is branded with a flop.

For a smaller-budget production, Cera would have been ideally cast as the diffident accidental hero, as would his attractive supporting cast. Newcomer (from TV) Ellen Wong is a bubbly delight as Pilgrim's Chinese-Canadian girlfriend, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (US TV child star seen recently in Grind House and Die Hard IV) plays his dream girl well a la Drew Barrymore. But none of them could carry a big-budget movie into a strong opening weekend.

Another young Canadian TV veteran, Alison Pill, is memorable as the freckled drummer in Pilgrim's band, whose band competitions parallel his own high-kicking action-punched battles with a wide variety of typical screen villains (including a pair of Japanese popsters). There's a comically OTT lesbian battler, and Pilgrim's older room-mate is gay (Kieran Igby Culkin in good form), and maybe their roles added extra frissons of a Canadian-style openness that doesn't go down well south of the border.

The unusual, and visually exciting, movie could have done with stronger plotlines and star names. Wright's co-adaptor must share the blame: Michael Bacall is an experienced minor actor, but he'd only written two other nondescript features before working on Scott Pilgrim. Most important, the movie he and Wright created lacked any big Wow moments (in SFX, hi-impact action, tuneful musical set-pieces, sexual fantasies) that give a movie word-of-mouth buzz on the social networks. Toronto and Ottawa should be understandably miffed.