Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I think it's safe to say that there is no other movie like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. It's one of the most madcap, high energy, relentless films I have ever seen. And it may also be brilliant. Films simply aren't told the way Scott Pilgrim is, so to see a film completely ignore the rules of film making so brazenly is liberating, if not a bit difficult to come to terms with. I've read the books upon which this is based, but even I was unsure of what to make of the movie for the first fifteen minutes or so. It was as if director Edgar Wright was incapable of letting a scene finish before he had already started the next one. Hell, sometimes it seemed as though one scene was simply happening on top of another. And yet, once I embraced the way the film was being told, it was exhilarating.

Michael Cera is Scott Pilgrim, a twenty-something layabout who meets the girl of his dreams (literally), Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). The catch is, she comes with a lot of baggage in the form of seven evil exes that Scott must defeat. What follows is a cacophony of fights, songs, split screens, Vegan Police, giant sound wave monsters, explosions of coins, a studio audience, 8-bit studio logos, and more. And yet, it all serves a point. Unlike a film like Speed Racer, which assaults you for the sake of being abrasive, Scott Pilgrim uses its visual style to give us a better understanding of how Scott sees the world. His life is shaped (and stunted) by the video games, music, and comic books he enjoys. When he enters his apartment after a night with Ramona, it makes sense that in his mind he would enter to applause and cheers.

The film is fast paced, to say the least, but it gets across a lot of information and emotional depth as well. I was surprised how long it took the film to even get to the first fight scene, allowing us to meet our hero and his friends. The world in which Scott exists is fully realized and explored even before the first evil ex shows up to ruin the party. I will say that if there is one problem with the film, it's that Ramona remains so unknowable up until the end of the picture that you will find it hard to care for her. Now, that could be because we are seeing everything through Scott's eyes, as he himself isn't quite sure what to make of her. But that doesn't make it less difficult when you're trying to understand why Scott would put up with all the evil exes for her. The film ultimately comes to a point where he is fighting them more for himself than for her, but it still would have been nice to understand what it is that these two characters see in each other.

If the visual imagination on display is the high point of the film, the acting is a close second. Considering the genre, that's actually pretty amazing. While I was left cold by Mary Elizabeth Winstead (the point, I understand that), I was actually quite charmed by Michael Cera. While he isn't the Scott Pilgrim I envisioned when reading the books, he also isn't the Michael Cera I've seen in everything else Cera has made. He is rude, selfish, and aloof, and yet that makes him all the more endearing when he tries to come to terms with what is being foisted upon him. The various exes steal their limited screen time, with Brandon Routh and Chris Evans bringing a level of narcissism to their characters that make their downfall all the more hilarious. But the best performances in the film come from Kieran Culkin as Scott's gay roommate Wallace, and newcomer Ellen Wong as Scott's underage girlfriend Knives. The two throw themselves at their characters with such abandon that they rise above the goofiness to feel like the most fully realized people in the movie.

Edgar Wright is a man still early in his career, and yet it feels like he is a master of cinema in a way few people his age could ever hope to be. His vision for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is so fully realized that you never doubt the choices he makes with the film. And that is absolutely vital with material like this. If for even a second you don't buy what he is doing visually, the whole film collapses (again, Speed Racer). This is the kind of material that simply shouldn't translate to screen well, and the fact that Wright figured out how to translate it perfectly makes the film feel mildly revolutionary.

Youth In Revolt

The Michael Cera persona, once endearing, has become somewhat of a stigma for the actor. Can Cera keep this persona going as he ages, will he change it up, or will his career fade because no one can accept him in anything other than this one role? I don't know that Youth in Revolt answers this question, but it certainly gives him a chance to both play into his signature style, as well as tweak it at times. I myself adored Cera's work in Arrested Development, but have found myself growing tired of him in the years since. So I was pleasantly surprised to find him once again endearing in Youth in Revolt. It's not a film that will change your opinion of the guy, but if you are alright with that, you will find a film that is at times unexpectedly delightful.

Cera plays the unfortunately named Nick Twisp, a boy who can't figure out where he belongs. All the kids his age seem so insufferably immature, yet the adults are no better: his mother only wants him around so she can collect child support, and his father is too busy with his floozy new girl to notice Nick. So when Nick meets a similarly disaffected youth in Sheeni Saunders, he falls for her. But fate seems destined to keep them apart. Not satisfied with that, Nick develops a split personality in the guise of Francois Dillinger. These two personalities work together to get Sheeni, but at what cost?

What makes Youth a breath of fresh air is that it takes a tired genre - the teen sex comedy - and infuses it with some personality. Sure, by the end it still hits the usual notes, but it does so with a unique flair. Director Miguel Arteta dresses the film up with a number of touches from European films, most notably those of the French New Wave, in order to take the film in different directions than most films of a similar ilk. The way in which he contrasts Cera's personality with that of the kind of guy someone like Belmondo would play is very silly and enjoyable to watch. Cera is clearly no rebel, so to frame him in such a way heightens the absurdity of the situation he is in. Where Belmondo would be effortlessly cool, Nick's attempts at cool go in increasingly bizarre directions. A real rebel would storm into his loved one's home, her parents be damned. Nick has to dress up like a woman for fear of being caught. Things like this are goofy, but Cera makes them work.

Youth in Revolt isn't a film intended to break new ground, although from what I've heard of the source material, it very well could have had it been adapted right. But what it does do is make a recognizable story fun again. Michael Cera's deadpan delivery works well when he is playing alter ego Francois, and for that alone it is worth seeing. And while Cera isn't shaking his usual persona, for those curious to see if he can, this film offers glimpses of that possibility in the future.

A Look Back at 2007: The Breakout Stars

I wanted to give out an award for the actor who had the best year in 2007, but in trying to narrow it down to one I realized it was nigh impossible. Too many people had too great of a year. So I decided instead to focus on the five actors who had the biggest breakout this year. These are people who were either largely unknown or generally disregarded before 2007 rolled around. Thanks to their work this year, each is now a household name, and we can certainly expect a lot from each in the coming years. In alphabetical order:

Casey Affleck

The films: Ocean's Thirteen, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Gone Baby Gone

The less famous Affleck finally became the bigger of the two in 2007. Casey has largely been on the fringes of film, most notable for his supporting role in the Ocean's trilogy. He started his year off as the best part of Ocean's Thirteen before heading into serious fare with Assassination and Gone Baby Gone. These films demonstrated that he could hold a film on his own. No longer hidden in his brother Ben's shadow, he seems to be on his way to getting an Oscar nomination this year for his portrayal of Robert Ford.

Coming Next: Not yet announced.


Josh Brolin

The films: Grindhouse, In the Valley of Elah, American Gangster, No Country for Old Men

The former Goonie has been languishing for years in middling fare like Hollow Man and Into the Blue. But somehow he completely reinvented his image in 2007 with four major films. He has excelled this year at playing the creepy guy, be it as a villain (Grindhouse, American Gangster), or as the hero (No Country for Old Men). I can see his career taking on a similar trajectory to that of another former child star, Christian Bale. Bale seemed to be gravitating to these sorts of roles a few years back before he hit it big with Batman Begins. So long as he doesn't waste all this new found attention, he could be huge.

Coming Next: Milk, the true story of the murder of San Fran politician Harvey Milk. He plays the murderer.


Michael Cera

The films: Superbad, Juno

No actor's breakout this year makes me happier than Michael Cera. To those who knew him from Arrested Development, it felt like we had this little secret we wanted to share with the world. Well now the secret is out, and Cera seems poised to be the next big comedic actor. Impressive for a 19 year old. I realized just how much of a chord he'd struck with audiences after Superbad hit when I saw the Juno trailer for the first time. When asked who fathered her child, Juno says "Paulie Bleeker" and the trailer cuts to Cera's mug. The whole audience burst into laughter. To elicit that kind of laughter in a trailer by simply being on the screen for a split second is huge, especially for someone still so new to film. If he does prove to be a bankable comedic star, perhaps they'll finally be able to convince Fox that an Arrested Development film is viable.

Coming Next: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Emile Hirsch

The Films: Alpha Dog, Into the Wild

Hirsch is a guy I just never expected much from, career-wise. I figured he'd languish in teen exploitation films like The Girl Next Door or Alpha Dog before disappearing. But with Into the Wild he popped in a big way. Suddenly he is gaining respect as one of the best new actors of his generation. Oscar glory seems to be in the cards as well if all goes well next January. How did this happen? Well, Sean Penn certainly deserves some credit, as he was the one who discovered that Hirsch could do something big given the chance. The best comparison I can think of is Leonardo DiCaprio, who also didn't seem to get much respect as a young actor and had to work that much harder at gaining the respect he deserved. I honestly hope people continue to doubt Hirch in the future, because that kind of doubt will only push him to try more and more challenging work, something that has proved to elevate DiCaprio above the peers he was once seen as inferior to.

Coming Next: The ultra trippy looking Speed Racer.


Shia LaBeouf

The Films: Disturbia, Surf's Up, Transformers

Every decade seems to have one or two big stars. There was Jack Nicholson in the 70's, Harrison Ford in the 80's, Tom Cruise and Hanks in the 90's, and Johnny Depp and Will Smith now. Come next decade, we will be talking about Shia LaBeouf in that same manner - assuming he doesn't achieve that status in the next two years, which is entirely possible. Before you accuse me of being some Shia fanboy, a little history: I had almost no idea who he was before this year, and I wouldn't consider any of his movies this year to be among the year's best. But there is no denying that he has that star quality that so few seem to have. He was able to make the otherwise mediocre Disturbia fun, and his work in Transformers made me believe in giant transforming robots more than any special effects ever could. He has such charm and charisma that I get sucked into his films inspite of whatever misgivings I might otherwise have. It also helps that he has Spielberg in his corner. So long as his life doesn't fall apart like so many other former child actors' do, he's already on his way to superstardom.

Coming Next: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Seriously, do you really want to bet against this kid?

Juno

Juno is a victim of its own hype. It's a film that has garnered lavish praise and awards chatter, yet ultimately it's nothing more than a quirky teen comedy with a pretty impressive central performance. Had it been released in March, no one would be talking about it in the same breath as No Country for Old Men, Atonement, or There Will Be Blood. If you can get past all the hyperbole surrounding this film, you might find a moderately sweet diversion. If not, prepare to sit through an occasionally agonizing 90 minutes of overly quirky dialogue and familiar plot points.

Juno (Ellen Page) is a loud mouthed, wise beyond her years 16 year old who has just learned she is pregnant. The father is her geeky friend and one time fling Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). She decides to keep the baby and give it to a family who can't have children of their own. The couple, Vanessa and Mark (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman), don't seem totally ready for kids, with Mark being an overgrown kid and Vanessa being a bit too stuffy and self-centered. The film follows Juno over the 9 months of her pregnancy, her relationship with Paulie, and the struggles of Vanessa and Mark as they come to grips with parenthood. A lot of people have been calling the screenplay from newcomer Diablo Cody a revelation, but clearly they weren't talking about the plot.

I fear they were talking about the dialogue. If so, I have a little bit less respect for the film critic community. The dialogue is often gratingly unrealistic and "clever" in the worst sense of the word. Cody seems to have spent more time trying to think of things that made her say "wouldn't it be funny to hear someone say that?" and less time thinking about what would actually be true to her story and characters. The worst offenders were the characters of Juno herself, as well as her friend Leah. People don't talk like that, and to hear a person say things like "honest to blog?" or "this is one doodle that can't be undid, home skillet" just takes you out of the reality of the film. I honestly stopped caring about some of the characters because they were clearly not meant to be anything more than simple cartoons there to make us laugh.

The actors all try their best to rise above the jarring dialogue. Ellen Page really is pretty good as Juno, and there are times where I think she really tried to elevate her character above the bad one liners and quirky vibe Cody infused upon her. I almost cared about Juno towards the end, and that was 100% thanks to Page. Cera is, as expected, understated, and he actually feels like a real human being for the most part. Garner and Bateman may be the best part of the film, however. Not saddled with the same idiotic lines their costars have, they are able to create two fully former characters that actually have depth. Both are likable and unlikable at the same time, and I honestly was warmed by the final two scenes with Garner. Bateman could have come across as a villain with his role, but thankfully he is smarter than that. We might not agree with what he does in the film, but we can easily see why he feels the need to do it.

Director Jason Reitman made one of my favorite films of 2006 with Thank You for Smoking. He was lucky to have an intelligent, funny script to work off of with that film. Here he does the best that he can with Cody's inane quips, and I suspect that he still has some growing to do as a filmmaker. He may be one to keep an eye on, however, as he is clearly a major talent in the comedy genre. I wish I could have loved this film as much as everyone else seems to love it, but I simply hated every word that came out of certain characters' mouths. No one talks like this, and the strong performances and solid directing are all weighed down by that one simple fact. As it stands, Knocked Up from last June is a far more funny and intelligent look at unexpected pregnancy, and it's a shame that film won't be the one garnering all the awards attention come next February.

Superbad

Who'd have guessed? In a summer of threequels, giant robots, rat chefs, amnesiac spies, and The Simpsons family, it is the duo of Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen that will walk away the real champs. Knocked Up started the summer off with a bang, and now Superbad - which Apatow produced and Rogen wrote - ends the summer on an even higher note.

Superbad sounds like many a teen comedy: a single day in the life of high school seniors looking to lose their virginity before graduation. Indeed, many of the plot points are straight out of other films: the two leads, Seth and Evan (Jonah Hill and Michael Cera), need to buy the booze for the party in order to impress their respective crushes. They enlist their friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who has a fake ID, to get the alcohol. From there their night is filled with many misadventures. In short, this could easily be a pretty generic movie. Yet somehow it is able to overcome the plot to be probably the best, most sincere, and funniest teen comedy since American Pie.

What makes it all work is a script that understands high schoolers. That could be a result of the fact that Seth Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg first wrote the screenplay when they were in high school. These characters aren't high school stereotypes, but recognizable people. I don't know about you, but my high school didn't have nearly as defined cliques as John Hughes might lead you to believe. Yes there were nerds, yes there were preps, yes there were jocks, but there were also a lot of people who just were. They weren't popular, but they weren't losers either. That gray area is where Seth and Evan exist. They get picked on by people of higher status, but then in turn are held up in comparison to other characters. Not taking the characters to an extreme is what makes it so relatable, and so funny.

It also helps that it's really about something, not just getting drunk and having sex. At the core of Superbad is one of the best examinations of a friendship I've seen in a teen film. Seth and Evan aren't going to the same college after graduation, and you can tell from the beginning of the film that they're very uncomfortable about that, though they don't know how to broach the subject with each other. They've been friends since elementary school, and they aren't sure if their friendship can survive such a big hurdle. The ways in which the two come to terms with their impending separation is surprisingly touching and at times bittersweet, and it is this element that shines above all others.

Because the friendship aspect is so important, two really strong actors were needed. Hill and Cera do a great job of making you believe they've been friends for years. Hill can be a bit one-note at times, often going over the top. Yet Cera is able to reign him in every time with his subdued, subtler work. Indeed, Cera's Evan really is the funniest character in the movie, though you'd probably not be able to quote his lines like you might with the other characters. Instead, the laughs with him come from the smallest things, like way he looks at things, the way he walks, or the way he reacts to the world around him. The third member of the gang is Fogell, aka McLovin. A lot of people have already proclaimed him the funniest character of the summer. The hype isn't totally warranted, but he is still quite amusing. Had the McLovin jokes not been revealed in trailers, he might have seemed a lot more fresh than he came off as. Still, his story of getting booze for his friends could have felt like a major tangent to the film had newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse not been able to handle it so well, so he deserves some recognition for that.

But above all else, this is a comedy, and a very funny one. I'd say it's probably funnier than Knocked Up was, although it could be close. Even the opening and closing credits are handled in a very funny way. And often the humor is unexpected in that the film never repeat the same kinds of jokes. They hit us with a gross out joke, then hit us with an over-the-top fantasy sequence, then make us laugh at a silly childhood flashback. The film is constantly flowing and surprising, rarely allowing us to guess what jokes could come next. It all works really well, with the disparate jokes never feeling too out of place or contrasting in styles to each other.

While I liked the movie more for its examination of teenage friendship than for its story of a booze search, I can't deny that it all worked very well and I was never bored. Hopefully this doesn't turn into a franchise like American Pie did (the opportunity is clearly there). But then again, Apatow and Rogen have been consistently surprising us for almost a decade now, and if anyone could be trusted to make a sequel that is actually warranted, it'd probably be these guys.