Hipsters, please don’t take Scott Pilgrim away from me
Combine an underground indie comic with the executor of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, mix in a little Michael Cera and Jason Schwartzman for good taste, and what do you get?
The recipe for Hipster Ambrosia – otherwise known as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
An unfinished cut of the big-screen adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s offbeat comi-gaming pastiche has been making the rounds as of late – with an early edit popping up in Las Vegas last month and another in Jersey this past Wednesday. So far word is that it’s good. Real good.
I was excited to read along with the lucky reviewers, vicariously indulging in all the faithful and clever notes Wright has managed to wring from the sublime source material. From the 8-bit Paramount intro, to casting Superman–nouveau himself, Brandon Routh, as Vegan-powered Todd Ingram, the entire production overflows with care and appreciation.
But as I continued to read some comments off the “Twitter” all the kids and news anchors are going on and on about these days, it dawned on me: the hipsters might hijack this film.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was amazing…hipster-indie sin city”
Scott Pilgrim vs The World was unbelievably good. So stoked I saw it before it’ll be cool to like that movie. Remember this tweet hipsters!”
In my own myopic way, this worries me. I’m not much of a comic fan; I hadn’t read one of any sort for the better part of a decade (aside from a weekly jaunt through the Sunday Funnies, natch). But when I caught wind of Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life back in ’06, I couldn’t help but be drawn to this story of a humble video game-loving Canadian and his posse of slacker band mates.
From the awesomely apropos rival band “The Clash at Demon Head” to each of Ramona’s exes leaving behind precious coins after falling to Scott – the video game references in the Scott Pilgrim series are indeed profuse, yet thoroughly tasteful. No simple feat for a category that easily loses itself in nonsensical Internet memes and an obsession with the noun “fail.”
The fact that O’Malley is able to integrate his video game heritage so seamlessly into his work (at more than one point Scott and Ramona travel through ‘subspace’ – a Super Mario Bros. 2 send-up – to quickly move between scenes) without resorting to scores of clichéd gaming tropes, makes him a standout in the field.
Hipsters, I beg you, please don’t make this movie one of your cheeky identifying quale. I already gave you Craig Ferguson and all my plaid button-downs from junior high. If you have any semblance of humanity left in you, please just let me keep Scott Pilgrim.
Look, I’m a fair person; I’ll even barter with you. You can have all my pogs and even my collection of heavy-duty rubber slammers from the early 90’s. They must be worth some points on the irreverence scale by now, right? I mean the 90’s are bound to be in vogue again any day really.
Regardless, whether I get my way or not, I’m just happy to hear Scott is making such an exceptional transition to the silver screen. It’s a far cry from the days when someone at Buena Vista got so confused by video game adaptation they thought Luigi was shorthand for Leguizamo.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World hits theaters August 13.
Images courtesy of Acme Comics, Wit War and Angry Zen Master
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Think drummers are the only ones who get to pen scathing memoirs? They ain’t got nothing on a salaryman scorned. Prepare to be scandalized by one programmer’s unique method of venting.
Oh, they’re definitely coming for your pogs, but you know they’re going to call them “milk caps.”
You’re telling me that you’re afraid of a movie with Jason Schwartzman being stolen by hipsters? You’ve already lost the battle.
All’s not lost airport -
Don’t forget he was also in last year’s Funny People, and no one even saw that one.
(Which is a shame, because it was a pretty great movie.)
In response to another comment. See in context »