Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Universal Pictures | Release Date: August 13, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
26
Mixed:
9
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Its speedy, funny, happy-sad spirit is so infectious that the movie makes you feel at home in its world even if the landscape is, at first glance, unfamiliar. Read full review
100
EmpireHelen O\'Hara
It's heartfelt, hilarious and a highly satisfying adaptation of the book. You don't have to be a geek to adore it; you just have to remember being young. But one word of caution: Hollywood, don't try to make a hundred of these. It won't work. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleAmy Biancolli
Handily beats back the evils of boredom. Read full review
100
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Michael Cera elevates deadpan to an art, starring as a slacker turned action hero in this wildly inventive comedy that's one of the most vivid and spirited adaptations of a comic book since Spider-Man--and one of the hippest since Ghost World. Read full review
90
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
As he did in "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz", Wright immerses his heroes in pop culture's detritus and diversions, but doesn't drown them in it. You don't have to be dazzled or tickled by the movie, or get every joke, to be touched by it, too. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Wright takes the tools of a bloodless medium, the video game, and crafts an action-comedy with a true-blue beating heart. Read full review
88
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
There's a running joke that this epic of also-ran heroism is set in eternally modest Toronto; but its real locale is an alternate universe without parents or the unhip. Read full review
88
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
Of all the gonzo-goofy comic book adaptations that embrace video gaming sensibilities, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is the gonzo-goofiest. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This is not the first time Wright has shown his understanding for such things, nor is this the first occasion in which he has displayed a strong sense of comedic timing, but Scott Pilgrim vs. the World feels fresher and more inspired than his previous outings, and that makes it an excellent source of late-summer entertainment. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Scott Pilgrim is a breathless rush of a movie that jumps off the screen, spins your head around and then stealthily works its way into your heart. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Wright and company do a splendid job of distilling it down to a fresh and entertaining joyride of a film. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The first rock & roll kung fu videogame youth love story. Read full review
80
SlateDana Stevens
A package of cinematic Pop Rocks, a neon-hued, defiantly non-nutritive confection that nonetheless makes you laugh at its sheer bold novelty. Read full review
80
Boxoffice MagazinePete Hammond
Put simply: Scott Pilgrim is a blast! The total package is a wildly comic journey into the head of a true original. If you are under 25 you will find all of it really, really funny. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
Though the fun is not so much in who wins or loses the girl - it's the playing that matters, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World definitely has game. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
A fanboy's dream come true, a smart take on a smart comic that actually looks the part, with performances that make it worth watching for the rest of us, too. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The movie is of this precise moment and you should probably see it now, since it will be dated by next Tuesday. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
A ridiculously entertaining romp based on the graphic novels of Bryan Lee O'Malley and directed, with mash-up mastery, by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead). Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Scott Pilgrim, a lovelorn musician, is an appealing fusion of nerdy, cheeky and vulnerable. So, who better to play him than Michael Cera? Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
English director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), takes the approach that movies have been far too reticent. His new film, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, is as vibrant as a cluttered wall of graffiti, jumpy enough to risk retina damage. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
A refreshingly original take on the comic book adaptation. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
At its best, Wright's film is raucous, impudent entertainment. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Highly entertaining, from minute to minute, and its semi-mythical portrayal of Torontonian life is entirely charming. If you can stand massive doses of cute and clever, it's a fine use for your summer-movie dollar (whether or not that dollar has a funny old lady on it). Read full review
70
TimeRichard Corliss
The perfect summation of Hollywood at this moment - an apotheosis of American male infantilism - and, on its own, a most likable mess. Read full review
63
PremiereJohn DeVore
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, most intriguingly, nails what makes video games so much fun. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The result is initially exhilarating, ultimately exhausting. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter Debruge
With Michael Cera in the title role, twentysomethings and under will swiftly embrace this original romancer. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Talk about style over substance: The sheer volume of musical, comic-strip and video-game influences, riffs and licks in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" can get exhausting, but they also are what lift this romantic coming-of-age tale from this world to someplace totally ... else. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
So why, given its moment-to-moment surplus of visual imagination, does the film feel so hollow and unsatisfying? Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
The film is repetitive, top-heavy: Wright blows his wad too early. But a different lead might have kept you laughing and engaged. Read full review
50
ObserverSara Vilkomerson
What will happen to the man-boy when he's all man and can no longer slouch about in baggy pants and hoodie sweatshirts with perpetually flushed cheeks? Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve Persall
Wright is an insanely funny filmmaker (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) yet only the front half of that description carries over to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
A big warm cinematic jelly doughnut stuffed with youth, vitality, style, whimsy and other equally alarming properties. I tried to love it. But after 20 minutes, I sensed I was intruding on the movie's love affair with itself. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
This is a discouragingly limp movie in which nothing is at stake. Read full review
40
Time OutKeith Uhlich
It's supremely annoying to see the ups and downs of romance reduced to archer-than-arch line readings and bloodless mortal kombat. What's more frustrating is that the film, adapted from Bryan Lee O'Malley's popular comic, is an endless visual delight. Read full review
38
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
A dog-frequency movie: enjoyable only to those tuned in to its particular register. Read full review
30
MovielineStephanie Zacharek
With Scott Pilgrim, Wright leaps over the line from chattery cleverness to all-out self-consciousness. Read full review
30
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
The film is alive with bad rock bands and dizzying bit parts, the standout being Kieran Culkin, in the role of Scott's gay roommate, but we feel them gyrating around a hollow core. Read full review
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