Stacey Pilgrim - "So you really thought you had a future with this girl?"
Scott Pilgrim - "With jet packs."
There are some movies that are just meant to become touchstones for a generation of people. For some it's 'Grease' or 'Lost Boys' or 'Star Wars'. For this generation of kids born in the digital age, THIS is the movie for them.
I remember a time before videogames and cell phones but to many, they can't imagine ever NOT being online. I had enough trouble with one identity but kids today have to juggle a real life and a virtual life. A life they were born into and one they have the ability to create and change as easily as they can switch their avatars. You are only as limited as your creativity and your ability to fight the malais that comes with being a sullen teenager.
This movie is based on a series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley and tells the story of a boy (Michael Cera) who loves a girl (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and must fight her past evil exes to win her love. In that way it's a 'rights of passage' movie where each evil ex is an increasingly difficult obstacle that our hero has to defeat with his brains and his heart - just like a real-life gamer has to do if he wants to win the video game he is playing.
The style of filmmaking is surreal and takes you right into the fantasy world of Scott where he gains powers like treasures as he defeats each level of the video game that is his life. The tecnique really moves the story along and allows full use of CGI and complicated stunt work. It also allows the director to fill the film with all kinds of dense character development and plot details that you usually only find in the pages of a graphic novel.
For this reason the movie will be enjoyable upon repeat viewings as you discover all the little easter eggs spread throughout.
In the end it might just be a boy meets girl story but its such a fresh and original concept with such likable characters that you care and root for that you will wish that like Scott, you had someone like Ramona to fight for.
I know I did.
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7 comments:
I freakin' loved it! I gave it a perfect 10 out of 10. It boggles my mind that it has completely bombed in theaters.
But isn't that always the mark of what makes a film truly great over time? We both could make lists of 50 films that were bombs at the theatre but went on to be personal favorites over time. This one was terrific and I wanted to see it again right afterwards. That Michael Cera really has grown on me with this one and Nick and Nora's Infinate Playlist. I hope positive word of mouth helps this movie find it's audience. It's as perfect a date movie with things for girls and guys to enjoy as I have ever seen.
I really want to see it,, fly down and see it with me why dontchya? I'll smuggle in contraband like cheez-whiz and steak fries...
Oh you would be the perfect girl to see it with kitty kat. You had me at cheez-whiz.
Yeah I get what you're saying. I hope it does find cult status. From what I've seen a lot of the poor numbers had to do with a backlash against Cera. I don't understand why if someone or something is enjoyed our society feels the need to hate on it.
And also thanks to the invisible seductress's comment I want steak fries.
Agreed. So many cult classics failed miserably in their initial run. "Highlander" lasted only two weeks and I was one of only two people in the theatre. I related this story to a friend over ten years later and he said: "Oh, you were the other guy!"
I refuse to believe that for anybody it's "Lost Boys."
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