Those who know me well know that this is definitely one of my all-time favourite movies. I haven't actually watched it in a couple of years though, so when I set it up for this time around, I wondered if it would hold up for me. Thankfully, for yours truly, the answer is an enthusiastic "yes". But I will suggest that while I can highly recommend this one to the right people, it will not be for everyone. For those who are unfamiliar, Scott (Michael Cera) is a young man living in Toronto, Canada, with his cool, gay roommate, Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin). Scott dates a 17-year-old named Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), and plays in a band called Sex Bob-Omb with friends Steven Stills (Mark Webber), Young Neil (Johnny Simmons) and Kim Pine (Alison Pill). Scott dates Knives largely for the simplicity of it all, but his friends and sister, Stacey (Anna Kendrick) can see that he's clearly stringing her along for his own convenience. One day, however, Scott meets the literal girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), which complicates things. Not only does he need to break it off with Knives in order to pursue something more real, but all of Scott's woman issues interfere with his band's success. But of course, that's not even the worst of it. In order for Scott to date Ramona, he must fight and defeat Ramona's seven "evil exes"; mystical hipster, Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha), movie star Lucas Lee (Chris Evans), successful band member, Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh), experimental-phase partner, Roxy Richter (Mae Whitman), the incredible Katayanagi Twins (Keita Saitou and Shôta Saitô) and club owner, and Scott's biggest threat, Gideon Graves (Jason Schwartzman). His journey is generally about needing to be better than everyone before him in order to win Ramona's heart. However, things are also personal, as a lot of it is about Scott overcoming his own insecurities as well. The story here is simple enough, but there is a lot about the way it's done that may be confusing to some. For example, Ramona talking about the subspace highway that runs through Scott's head... I mean, are you lost yet? But the key thing to note about this movie is its overall style. This (as well as the graphic novels it's based on) is stylized as though someone took comic book superheroes, 80s video games and anime, and threw it all into a blender. And the style of this movie is one of the biggest selling points in my opinion. This is something that has been referred to as one of the best video game movies of all time, but it's not based on a video game at all (although, there is a great 'Double Dragon'-style beat 'em up game out there). But the film is loaded with all sorts of old school video game sound effects one may recognize (especially in my age range), has a lot of comic-like aspects to it, like text that runs across the screen, and a lot of the fight scenes are quite anime-like. It goes to unrealistic extremes on purpose, and things get super fun. On top of everything, at this point I see this one as a bit of a time capsule. Released in 2010, I was 27, going on 28, so felt like I was still somewhat in the appropriate age group (everyone in the movie is in their 20s, except Knives) for its target audience. I also live very close to Toronto, so there's a certain sense of Canadian pride I have about that part. Wright pulled no punches, either - the whole thing is filmed in town, AND includes landmarks that are in the comics. I will admit that I wonder how well this will hold up for other fans who haven't seen it in quite some time. It was awesome for the time, but sadly outdone that weekend by 'Eat, Pray, Love', and 'The Expendables', which both cover a lot of ground for their respective target audiences. However, being a fan of the graphic novels (recommended to me by an estranged friend who I will nevertheless thank here), I saw it three times in theaters, and still consider it one of the best done adaptations of anything out there. People are bound to disagree, but this is one I hold close to my heart, and highly recommend to anyone with an open mind.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
September 2022
|