Jack and I are not the target demographic for this zany video-gaming cartoony action love story based on a series of graphic novels, but we loved it all the same. Probably aimed at 15 to 35 year old males who are gamers, it has kick-ass alternative rock, plenty of violence but no blood ("defeated" characters tend to explode into coins), Michael Cera as adorable man-child Scott and a host of terrific supporting actors. Cera (after I wrote about him in Paper Heart he starred in Youth in Revolt, among others) does the Peter Pan thing to the max, avoiding responsibility whenever possible, with at least as many exes as his lady love Ramona Flowers, but then morphs into a fighting machine in the action sequences where Scott has to defeat Ramona's seven evil exes. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (the only one of her 23 credits I've seen is Bobby (2006), an ensemble piece) plays Ramona as mysterious and appealing with really great hair--color and cut. Also with really great hair color and cut is Alison Pill (I wrote about her in Milk) as Kim Pine, the drummer who pines for Scott. Watch this animated clip which illustrates a flashback about their relationship from the graphic novel: a scene which is not in the movie. In fact, hair is a repeating theme here: most everyone's coif is significant and/or noteworthy. Kieran Culkin (my regular readers may remember that I loved Igby Goes Down and The Dangerous Life of Altar Boys, both in 2002, and both starring Kieran; he was also The Cider House Rules (1999) and Lymelife), Macaulay's little brother (there are five Culkin siblings), is great as Wallace, Scott's "sarcastic gay roommate," a quote from wikipedia. Aubrey Plaza (disaffected April on Parks and Recreation (NBC-TV)) is very funny as bespectacled Julie Powers, another of Scott's exes. Anna Kendrick (so good in Rocket Science (2007) and Up in the Air) is Scott's no-nonsense sister Stacey. Then there's Envy, the rock starlet, played to trashy perfection by Brie Larson (daughter Kate Gregson on United States of Tara and a cameo in Greenberg). Further support comes from Chris Evans (Johnny Storm/Human Torch in several Fantastic Four movies and more), Mae Whitman (I remember her as a little kid in One Fine Day (1996), Hope Floats (1998), American Rhapsody (2001); then she played opposite Cera in 13 episodes of Arrested Development, and now she's on NBC's fabulous Parenthood), Jason Schwartzman (I wrote about him in Fantastic Mr. Fox and Funny People), and many many more. Uncredited cameos by Thomas Jane (currently the star of HBO's Hung) and Clifton Collins Jr. (some of his best work is in Capote (2005) as killer Perry Smith, Sunshine Cleaning, Extract, and Brothers) as a pair of a particular kind of hunky police officer will have you laughing out loud.
Edgar Wright (I haven't seen any of his directing or writing work, including Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and one segment of Grindhouse) directed and co-adapted the screenplay with Michael Bacall (more acting than writing in his credits), and the movie is fast, smart, and, as I've said, very funny, with more jokes than you can count. One of Scott's band mates is named Stephen Stills and their groupie is Young Neil (I combed the cast list for occurrences of the names Graham, Nash, David, and Crosby, but came up empty. However, CSNY are apparently a recurring theme in the graphic novels). They will probably be fun to read.
Now, about the music. There are two albums available for purchase or download: one (blue cover) of mostly the original score by Nigel Godrich and one (red) of singles by various artists, produced by Godrich. Youtube has lots of of tracks from the blue one (it has 38 tracks--start with this one and work your way down the blue list on the right). The Playlist blog, which has become more of a hip, all-about-movies blog with many authors, returned to its soundtrack roots and covered the red one in detail. Here's a pre-release post with one music clip and a video produced by Wright, a later one with 10 clips, and one more with 3 clips of remixes from the movie.
An epic of epic epicness, says the subtitle of the movie. It so is. Stay til the very end, for an animated bonus.
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