Scott Pilgrim vs. Generation Y

The movie is more than just special effects and Toronto locales, it speaks to an entire generation.

Boom! Pow! Crash! Holy effects Batman, Michael Cera is beating up that guy from Fantastic Four! He punches him so hard that the guy explodes into coins!! Then he…hey, that’s Casa Loma!

Watching Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World requires you to embrace your ADD, dust off your geek gaming knowledge, and revel in the cathartic experience of seeing Toronto actually being Toronto (not Chicago-Toronto, New York-Toronto, or Apocalypse-Toronto) on screen.

The plot is formulaic – guy meets girl, guy must defeat her seven evil exes in order to win her love. By the time you reach the fifth and sixth (twins Kyle and Ken Katayanagi who fight as a team), you are more than happy Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is moving things along with a two-for-one deal, especially when that Coke Zero you drank at the beginning of the movie starts making you jealously think of Pilgrim’s pee bar.

But buried under the onslaught of special effects (no doubt theItalian neo-realists are rolling over in their graves – Roberto Rossellini, mi scusi!) are situations that can’t help but make you smile.

Despite some otherworldly (though, thanks to Street Fighter, very familiar) powers, Scott Pilgrim’s quest for life and love is one Generation Y twentysomethings know well. Scott has moved out on his own (though only across the street from where he grew up, quite literally living in the shadow of his childhood), he is “between jobs,” trying to make his passion (music) turn into a reality, and is muddling around with love and sex. Pilgrim may fly through the air with the greatest of ease, but like a lot of people in their 20s, he also lives in a cramped apartment with an interfering roommate (Kieran Culkin – really, can anyone skulk like a Culkin can?) and makes poor choices in winter jackets.

It is because of these similarities that, even though Scott’s world is filled with digitalized super hero action, it still rings true with the audience. Take for instance the Seinfeld scene. Scott rushes into his apartment, “pulling a Kramer” as a laugh track plays and his roommate assumes the role of Jerry. Though a highly choreographed, campy moment, the scene is just as real as the popcorn you’re munching on. How often have you told a story, only to have someone chirp: “It’s just like that episode of Seinfeld!”

SPvTW takes the cultural tropes that 80s babies are steeped in and makes them real. When Pilgrim has to jet, he does, literally, out the window. When the object of his affection, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, another tri-name star in the making), blades away she is truly smoking hot, leaving a trail of slush where fresh snow used to be.

Sure, most of us will never have engage in hand-to-hand combat with seven evil exes, but just have a look at your Facebook “friends” list. They may not be evil per se, or wield a sword that would give Darth Vader weapon envy, but you are most likely faced with exes on your news feed everyday. And there are probably more than seven.

SPvTW may be loud, digital, and bingeing on pop culture references, but so is its target audience. And the movie isn’t laughing at you for enjoying it, you are laughing along with it – that’s what makes it so fun. Scott Pilgrim isn’t taking on the whole world, he’s taking on Gen Y’s world. And if that’s your world too, you’ll probably enjoy watching him do it.