Day 79: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

Last year, I heard the mention of a Toronto-based indie graphic novel being turned into a movie, so I eagerly went to the store and bought the whole series (well, all that had been released up to that point). I was surprised at how, for lack of better words, awesome the comics were. While obviously set in Toronto, the creator, Bryan Lee O'Malley, managed to capture and preserve on paper what it's like to be a early-20s living in Toronto, crammed filled with video game references. As the film became more and more publicized, I started counting down the days. This was, without a doubt, the film of 2010 I was most eager to see.

Scott Pilgrim is unemployed, living in a bachelor apartment with his gay best friend (sharing a mattress), is in a band (whose skill is questionable), and is dating a 17-year old high school girl. All in all, Scott's life is rather uneventful. That is until he dreams of Ramona Flowers, literally the girl of his dreams, who he then runs into the following day in real life. By some miraculous luck, Ramona agrees to go out with Scott - though she failed to mention one catch, he has to fight and defeat her seven evil exes. These exes include a world-class skateboard, a set of twins, a vegan, and a girl.

All I can say is that the film was awesome. It not only lived up to the comic, to the hype, to my expectation, but it blew them all away. The film has taken the essence of video games and transferred it to the silver screen with such precision and ease that it makes one wonder why it took people so long to realize this could be done. This one of a kind film, while hopefully not, will most likely spur on a series of copy-cats, but they'll never capture the originality and charm that Scott Pilgrim has. The film is as close to a perfect film that I've seen in a long time. Well worth seeing, and not only once, but numerous times.