Thank god I'm not the only person going "this movie is stupid". I agree with every syllable on the podcast, really. There was potential to do something cool here, but I literally DO NOT CARE ONE IOTA about ANY PERSON IN THIS MOVIE.

/Z

Here's the scale I rate movies on:
1 - I will watch this and give it my full attention.
2 - I will watch this but I need something else to do also.
3 - I wont purposely set out to watch this, but if it's on and I have nothing better to be doing, I'll give it some attention.
4 - I wont leave to room because it's on, but I'm not going to watch it.
5 - Fuck this movie.

I'm a gamer and I get all the references and everything, but this movie is only a 2.5 for me. The characters in this movie are not gamers, they're hipster who live in a game world, and, on top of that, I don't really like them.

I think this movie, and the comics are great. So there.

A bad story is a bad story, regardless of whether the audience overlooks it because of all the explosions and/or boobs.

But I was liking the movie for a while for a couple of reasons, I think. 1) I've only seen Michael Cera in Arrested Development, so I'm not tired of him. 2) I got that Scott was a jerk because that's the thing he's going to overcome by the end of the film while he's overcoming all the evil exes. "These guys are a lot like me in some ways. I need to change." They should literally be using some of the same lame lines and excuses he used earlier in the film.

The problem is that the film presents a huge analogy (overcoming a girl's memories of her exes is like fighting bad guys in a video game) that it then tries to subvert (the girl for me was right beside me all along [see My Chauffeur; The Sure Thing]). But Knives was annoying, and no video game ends with the player going, "You know, I guess I don't really want to save the princess after all." That's why the test audience didn't like the Scott-Knives ending and wanted the original conflict resolved using the original rules: fight the exes; get the girl. Result: Scott doesn't learn early enough not to be a douchebag, and Knives's arc is clumsily resolved. Worse, the whole Knives character becomes a distraction that makes her a secondary antagonist.

Cars made a similar mistake setting up and subverting an analogy. "A cool but self-absorbed guy is like a race car, speeding thru life and ignoring other people. He needs to slow down and learn that winning isn't everything." What? That's not what race cars are for! Race cars win races! Weirdly, that movie also had this whole other competing theme of "the talented rookie needs to learn to listen to the old veteran to get the tips he needs to succeed" which gets thrown away at the end when Lightning decides not to win.

Last edited by Zarban (2011-05-04 17:54:18)

It doesn't surprise me that people don't like some characters in this film. What DOES surprise me is that the character that most of those people DO like is Knives? Really? I liked the movie, but I found her shrill and annoying. If there was one character I truly hated in the movie, it was her. It just baffles me that people liked her for any other reason than pity.

QFT

Meh, they've been doing that for a while. I usually just rip the movie and send it back right away. I figure if it's good enough for me to care about commentaries or BTS after that, it earned my purchase. Netflix is just my viewing portal for the films themselves.

As one of the folks who liked Knives, I will say I agree that she's annoying and immature at first.  But then she gets over it.  As opposed to Scott, who supposedly "learns the power of something or other" even though I never saw how or why it happened, I actually understood what Knives wanted, and what she was doing to get it.   Maybe I wouldn't want to hang out with her in real life, but I was interested enough to watch her from a distance.

And unlike Scott and BlueHair, Knives earned her victory.  She had a goal, she tried different things to get it, and in the end was a different person for it.  Which makes her the only major character with anything resembling a character arc.

Oddly enough the changed ending gave Knives an even stronger arc than the "real" ending did - when Scott ended up with the other chick, Knives was okay with it, and I was happy for her.  Good for you, now ditch those posers and find a real boyfriend!

Last edited by Trey (2011-05-04 22:54:49)

My thoughts the instant this commentary was over:

"Wait, did they just get me to not like a movie that was on my list of the best of 2010? DAMN YOU DIF."

Loved Dorkman's rant.

That which is said of geeks can also be said of goths. The scene grows around the individuals, not the other way around. You can be an 80s action geek or a gamer geek or a Star Wars geek or a Star Trek geek. The geekdom is in the level of dedication and enjoyment of the particular subject, whether comics, movies, or games. The same is true of goths. There are goths that dig zombies, goths you like Victorian clothing, goths that are into cyberpunk. It's a big tent.

The stereotypical geek or goth is an amalgam of what appears to be the most common trends. I say appear as many geeks and goths are less overt in their appearance and attitude and therefore overlooked. Not all goths are mopey. Not all geeks are nitpicky.

You can not like Scott Pilgrim and still be a geek just as you can not like The Cure and still be a goth. As the russians say, in taste and color there are no equals. That is, Diff'rent Strokes for Diff'rent Folks.