I'd point you to this review, and say, "what she said," but I rarely do movie reviews, since I rarely go to the movies, because there are rarely any movies that I'd want to see, so I thought it would be a nice change from book reviews.
Let's get my ignorance out of the way first, shall we? I'm not a gamer, never was as a kid either. I've dated a few gamers in my time, but never got into it myself. I've read some comic books/graphic novels - mainly the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman and a few by Alan Moore, and more recently the Hatter M series by Frank Beddor and the Fables series by Bill Willingham. But that's it. I do want to read the Scott Pilgrim series after seeing this film, though.
It was solidly funny all the way through, with the touches of seriousness just when needed. The special effects were in the gamer style, which even a non-gamer like me could get. The acting was pretty damn near perfect - Michael Cera in the lead plays a geek with surprises: without depth in that character, this wouldn't have worked; Ellen Wong as the starry-eyed, naive girlfriend who grows up a little; Keiran Culkin as the gay roommate and conscience. The story was solid, and nothing was wasted, not even Ramona's constant correction of Evil Exes rather than Evil Ex-Boyfriends. The soundtrack would make great workout music. There's lots of violence in it, I warn ya - done in a kung fu/Matrix sort of way. The defeat-by-coffee creamer was the funniest though.
My only beefs with the film were that the finale seemed to go on a little too long, and I couldn't figure out who Scott would end up with. Scott facing himself didn't need to be there, but the twist was fun, so I almost didn't notice how long the ending was. Almost. And having not read the comics the film was based on, I don't know how it ends on the page. Perhaps the point was to keep the audience guessing until the very end? I'm satisfied with who he ended up with. I'd have been equally satisfied if he'd ended up with the other one, possibly even the third one. Or was she the first one? Anyway, Scott picked one. Can't ask for more than that. And who doesn't love to see a geek win? However awkwardly and clumsily he goes about it.
A fun film, and well worth seeing. I can't remember any kind of movie like this when I was a teenager. How disappointing!
I mainly wanted to see this film because Edgar Wright directed it. The first of his films that I saw was Shaun of the Dead. I watched it late one night while eating Ghirardelli chocolate squares and snuggling under blankets in a hotel room in San Francisco several years ago. Now, I'm not into horror films At. All. But I loved Shaun of the Dead. It's the perfect film for horror film lovers AND for those dragged along to see them or for those who would never otherwise watch them no matter how much dragging was attempted. Who would have thought you could make a horror film deliberately funny?
I went to see Hot Fuzz when that came out. I'm not into cop films either, but I loved Hot Fuzz for the same reason I loved Shaun of the Dead. Lovingly tweak the nose of the genre and do it well, and you have my interest.
Somewhere in there, I discovered Spaced, which is one of the funniest sitcoms I've ever seen. And for the record, I liked where it ended.
So anytime I hear that Edgar Wright or Simon Pegg or Nick Frost or Jessica Stevenson have a new project out, I take notice. When is Paul coming out?
Oh, that review I linked to at the beginning? I'm in the author's demographic to a T, and agree with all her points, which the professional movie critics have obviously missed. What she said.
And I SO want Ramona's hair. When it was pink. I'd never get away with it at work though.
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