I closed my ears to everything anyone had to say about the movie, I only saw a single trailer going in and my mind was fresh and I didn't have any expectation. I walked out of the movie thinking, well that was fun, it wasn't the greatest thing I've ever seen, it wasn't the worst thing I have ever seen. I got my money's worth and that's the end, I'll probably watch it once more when it comes out on DVD and that's it.
My complaints about the movie:
The start is slow, and I mean really slow, the build up takes what 20-25 mins? Things didn't really get that interesting until the first evil ex shows up. And what is with the whole interdimensional highway in Scott's head? It's like oh he sees the girl in his head because she is skating through it, and she mentions it and it is never mentioned ever again...why, the guy has this magical doorway in his head you think this might not be something interesting to explore? As a person who hasn't read the comics you sit there and scratch your head going wtf?!
Then we come to the first 3 exes, we get this little flash back cartoon thing that shows how they hooked up with the girl and how they break up...some of which are kind of stupid. I mean its like oh she just pretended to go out with a guy because he was the only non white and then they broke up like a week later....so why is he out to kill her new boyfriend? They never really had any sort of real relationship.
Speaking on that note, why does the League of Evil Exes exist? I understand the concept of oh they're pissed off at the girl and they don't want her to be happy so they block her from getting a boyfriend, but the aim of the league is to have her go back to the last boyfriend? Why? Aren't the other 6 playing on the fact that they're jealous of Scott hooking up with the girl, but they're ok with the 7th hooking up with her?
Back to the whole cartoon backstory thing, why is it dropped for the 4th,5th, 6th, and 7th exes? We really don't know jack about the 4th, 5th, and 6th exes, hell I don't even think the twins had a line of dialogue, they're on screen for like a minute and poof dead. We only get a snippet about the 7th from exposition and even then it isn't much.
Then you go to the character of Scott Pilgrim, I understand in the end he is supposed to be some kind of douche character that we're really not supposed to like. But that's where a lot of stories fail for the general audience, you need some kind of reason to connect or to root for the main character. For example the reason why episodes 1, 2, and 3 of starwars fail is because there is no real main character to connect with in the story.
The same is with Pilgrim, sure the camera is focused on him and following him around but I don't care about him. He's supposed to have some kind of epiphany/turning point when fighting the final ex and we're supposed to like him there. But even then I was like wtf? So his first time in he levels up and gets the "power of love" and he gets creamed. The second time in re levels up and gets the power of self respect and wins. Why?
Scott isn't lacking in the self respect department in any way, in fact he things way too much of himself to begin with. The guys loves himself to a fault, hell the only thing he seems to have a problem with himself is his shaggy hair. I'd think the turning point would be him getting the power of love because he clearly hasn't loved a girl before, he is a guy who changes women like he changes clothing. He hasn't loved before, he just has girlfriends for the sake of having a girlfriend. So the whole gaining of self respect seems kind of an odd choice as his salvation.
Another point the story makes that Scott really is a dick you shouldn't like is that what should be his evil twin is "Actually a Nice Guy"...Scott Pilgrim is so much of a prick that his opposite twin is a nice guy. Think about it.
The main character and the plot problems really ruined the movie for me. What sold the movie to me was the slew of side characters and I found them 10x more funny and interesting then anything Scott and Romona did.
