I have only ever reviewed recent movies with the exception of the Quentin Tarantino marathon. However, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was brought to my attention after I started seeing clips from the movie pop up in my recommendation list on YouTube again, and I realized that I need to watch it again on Netflix. After seeing it a second time, I’ve realized that it still holds up as a wildly entertaining cult classic.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World follows unemployed 23-year-old bassist named Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) who, a year after his monstrous breakup with rockstar Envy Adams (Brie Larson), begins to date a Chinese high schooler named Knives (Ellen Wong). Scott realizes he’s only dating Knives as a distraction from mourning his break-up, and soon finds the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). As he starts to date her, he learns that he has to defeat her seven evil exes (not like a bar fight, he literally has to have a video-game style duel with them and they) who are trying to kill him. As he tries to go through each ex, Scott tries to stay positive while struggling to be the nicest person Ramona’s ever dated. 

Now, I know the plot may sound incredibly uninteresting. It may seem like one of those rom coms you flip through when you see it on Lifetime, but it is actually the opposite. It is very action-packed and the film’s director, Edgar Wright, keeps each scene kinetic and lively. Wright is able to take this film to a whole new level of good. As an aspiring film director, I believe that Wright is able to mark himself as the perfect role model. He makes smooth transitions between each scene, includes hidden comedy that’s brilliant and bold, and adds a level of style that just can’t be competed with. It is criticized that the style is better than the actual substance in the movie, but when the style is this incredible, that is saying something really good for the movie. 

Another important component of the plot is Scott Pilgrim’s band Sex Bob-Omb. They are regarded as terrible musicians in the film, but they actually play some great music. It’s both punkish and a good representation of 21st century rock-and-roll. The music is so good that I even listen to it outside of watching the movie. And it’s not just the band Sex Bob-Omb; there’s a whole battle of the bands in the film that is also great. 

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World  also has a deeper meaning that took me three watches to understand. Like the song “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John, it ends up being perfect breakup therapy. It’s especially great film therapy for video game and comic book lovers. It teaches the audience that they must defeat the past in order to find happiness. Through all the fun action and the hilarious comedy, it serves as a film to make anyone who’s gone through a breakup look towards the future more (unlike Moonrise Kingdom which makes you feel incredibly lonely). It’s message will help but it also can make anyone’s inner nerd happy while making you feel better. Scott Pilgrim fights both Superman and Captain America (the actors who play them), he goes through several video game-like fights that have him collect physical coins as his reward, and he shows that even if you’re a bit nerdy and awkward, you can find someone.

The extent of how good this film is is difficult to describe in words.It will really surprise you because there has never been a film made like this before. It’s a comic book movie that makes you feel like you’re watching a comic book that was put into a flipbook. I say it’s the greatest video game movie of all time because it’s got the out of this world environment of a video game. Even though the bar is set pretty low for video game movies, it stands incredibly high over all of the others by a long shot. I urge you to check it out on Netflix because I always get mad that this film had a 60 million dollar budget and it took a loss of 20 million dollars. I’m not doing this film any justice. I tried to watch the trailers for this film and they don’t even do the film justice. You just need to see it for yourself and it will at least be very entertaining.