Breaking Out The Other "L" Word with Ellen Wong

If you'd asked me five years ago what my favourite film was, I would've said, without any hesitation, Spielberg's classic Jurassic Park. A delicious blend of nostalgia and believable science fiction, with a spattering of the greatest and most realistic special effects that have ever hit the silver screen. For almost twenty years of my life, Jurassic Park held its place as my rainy day film, the film that would cheer me up whenever needed.

And then along came Mr. Scott Pilgrim. Over the last four years since it's release, I must have watched Scott Pilgrim Vs The World almost thirty times, and as I sit here this evening watching it after a long day in the classroom, I still find myself noticing new things, giggling at jokes that had previously eluded me, and falling once again in love with the wonderful Ellen Wong as the tragic Knives Chau.

An eclectic mix of musical, action adventure, comedy and romance, Scott Pilgrim manages to present itself as the chimeric love child of film, video game and comic book, lovingly crafted with all the directorial finese that a British geek named Edgar Wright could muster.

The story, for those uninitiated, revolves around the eponymous Canadian as he fights against an evil league of exes in order to win the heart of kooky delivery girl Ramona Flowers. The plot itself is pretty daft, but it is delivered with such ridiculous aplomb that one cannot help but find oneself at the edge of the sofa waiting for each battle to unfold. 

Michael Cera as the lead is a beautiful mix of hopeless hero and even more hopeless romantic, delivering the most delightfully dead-pan performance since Lorenzo Music first voiced everyone's favourite lasagne-scoffing feline. The supporting cast meanwhile each add their own spice to proceedings, from Keiren Culkin as Scott's world hating roommate to Mary Elizabeth Winstead as eccentric love interest Ramona. Each evil ex is hilariously cast, and each of Scott's hopeless band mates perfectly seasoned. It all adds up to a cordon-bleu dish of a cast, expertly finished by the delectable topping that is Ellen Wong as the ever-lovable Knives who, depending on which ending you watch, will either break your heart, or fill you with utterly life-affirming joy.

Every scene thrives with vibrancy, crafted with such loving care that like each of Wright's other films, it can be endlessly rewatched without ever losing its freshness.

Scott Pilgrim was a flop in the cimema, and remains to this day an underground sensation, but frankly, if you don't like it, you're missing a heart, tin-man. Warm, hilarious, and ultimately reassuring, it's going to take one hell of a movie to knock this one off my top spot.

And then of course, there's Knives...