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What does one do in the waning days of summer, when the temperature and weather of Seattle reach that cosmic mix of perfect - 66 and sunny, thank you - that the sallow-skinned Irish-afflicted like myself refer to as *shrug*? If you’re an unrepentant asocial loner like me you do the following: Throw rocks at the sun like a post-nuclear Omega Man albino, find a double-feature and cower indoors for four hours with nothing to keep you company but a complete lack of self-awareness and a bag of 2 parts butter/1 part popcorn.

On this particular summer Monday, with earlier sunsets signaling the beginning of fall like that first short-bus to take me to my 3rd sophomore year, I chose to take in a showing of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and The Expendables. This wasn’t a pre-set double-feature, mind you; this was a pairing of my own design which, much like my Deep-fried Jalapeno-popper Cupcake experiment, was likely to end with me confused and bleeding from the eyes while wandering around in the Rainier Vista projects for an hour or eight fighting imagined dragons with a vuvuzela. 

Much like a clichéd 80’s comedy pairing an introverted geek and the jock with a soul, I expected my double-feature to counterbalance itself; the perfect mix of nerd-angst, comic book references, Crane-Kicks and screamed Schwarzenegger one-liners…with a soundtrack by Wang Chung. While neither quite delivered on my John Hughes vs. John Rambo wet-dream, both were enjoyable…or at least a better use of $15 than my usual self-imposed home-alone single-guy edition of “hot-wing happy hour: now with crying and Elliot Smith".

First up was Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.  If you haven’t heard of this movie then you are either a) not a card-carrying comic-con nerd or b) have a girlfriend of some sort…you know, with lady-parts and poodle-skirts. What? I haven’t dated in a while. They still call it ‘going steady’, right? Besides being based on an indie-comic and therefore enjoying a CosPlay-tastic groundswell of nerd support, Scott Pilgrim is one of the few movies filmed in Toronto that is actually set in Toronto. This means snow and an abundance of pale people in toques. And whores. Wait, that was Canadian girls in college, not this movie.  Why am I still single? Good question, that. 

Against this snowy backdrop we meet 23 year-old Scott Pilgrim - Michael “The most non-threatening male lead since pre-pubescent Anthony Michael Hall” Cera - bass player for The Sex Bob-Ombs, and dater of 17 year high school student Knives Chau. Pilgrim is busy plodding through his early 20’s and sharing a flat with his gay friend and source pithy comments and lothario-wit, Wallace Wells. Once Pilgrim has a dream of then meets in person the rollerblading personification of everything sexy, Ramona Flowers, everything begins to get a little more complicated; in order to win her heart he must defeat her seven evil exes. Through the course of fighting off her exes and getting closer to Ramona, Pilgrim goes on an existential tour of relationships 101 and must confront some of his past misdeeds regarding the fairer sex.

Apart from the statutory rapey underpinnings of the beginning of this movie - just replace Michael Cera with any NFL rookie and tell me if you’re okay with him running a train on a high-school senior - Scott Pilgrim is entertaining visually, staying true to the comic book and video game aesthetic throughout. While the visuals go a long way to adding a certain cool aesthetic to the film the pacing bogs down at points giving the movie an uneven feel. There are entertaining parts and even some introspective moments that will make just about everyone feel like a douche-bag for leading someone on or the way they broke up with someone over the phone, via text or, if you’re me, while dressed like Pikachu at a Taco Bell.  *Power Chord*

When it is at its best Scott Pilgrim is engaging and original, using witty banter and the full breadth of the video-game pop-culture medium to create an entertaining storyline that just never quite lives up to all the hype. Though he has helmed two of my favorite movies, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, I would have to say that writer/director Edgar Wright’s version of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World ranks far behind these two in comparison. Despite this, I can’t say that the nerdy impulse-buying collector in me won’t be tempted to buy the 18 disc Blu-ray version with Michael Cera pin-up included when it comes out just before Christmas.

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