Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010, Dir: Edgar Wright)

I shouldn’t like this film. It tries far too hard to be cool and it’s basically too clever for its own good. If it was directed by a stock Hollywood director, wheeled out to join the dots on an existing piece of work (the film is based on the Scott Pilgrim comic book series), it would be a dire, dire affair. However, under the hands of the very talented Edgar Wright (Spaced, Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) it’s a very refreshing and genuinely funny comedy.

It could have been a bad move for Wright. Away from his regular collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, he could have suffered the same fate as other successful directors tempted by the Hollywood machine (see Jean Pierre Jeunet’s Alien Resurrection for a horrible reminder of how disappointing this situation can be). It’s also refreshing to see Wright take someone else’s work and run with it – each of his previous accomplishments have been original pieces of work co-written with Pegg.

The film introduces us to the nerdish Pilgrim, rehearsing with his equally outcast punk rock band (Sex Bob-omb), and introducing his band-mates to his newly acquired Asian schoolgirl girlfriend. However, when he meets the girl of his dreams – the eye-catching Ramona Flowers – he decides to switch partners, a decision which leads him having to battle seven of Ramona’s evil exes.

As you can probably imagine, the film has one foot planted firmly in reality and the other planted a whole stride away in a weird video-game-martial-arts-comic-book fantasy world. Although cineastes not fatigued by the spectacle of martial arts infecting every corner of cinema will probably be blown away by the action, it left me feeling slightly nauseous. I’m all for a film turning a genre onto its head, but I think I’ve just seen too much of this sort of thing – as though the whole world can be solved by kung-fu. If it could, Jackie Chan would be a world leader.

Where the film really shines is in the script (again, co-written by Edgar Wright, with Michael Bacall and the writer of the comic book Brian Lee O’Malley) and the lead performance of Michael Cera in the title role. The first act, prior to the appearance of Ramona’s first evil ex, is very funny, introducing us to Scott and the way in which he looks at the world. Much like Wright’s history with Spaced, much of the esoteric humour is aimed at video-game counter-culture, with a personal favourite being a dream sequence set to the princess’ descending theme from the Zelda games.

After this, the next instalment in Wright’s Blood & Ice Cream trilogy is a must see...

Four Lions (2010, Dir: Chris Morris)

Patiently waiting for this film to start in the Civic theatre in Auckland, I was amazed at the number of white-haired cinema patrons sat around me. I wasn’t sure if they were in the wrong venue or if they were simply pulled in by the allure of a British comedy on a cold Friday night (probably the latter). Either way, I bet Mrs. Popcorn Logic that they wouldn’t make the duration of the film. I’ve been exposed to a fair bit of Chris Morris’ comedy, and if there’s one understatement to make, it’s that he doesn’t really make the sort of comedy to please older people.

However, it seems that I overestimated how extreme this film was going to be. As long as you can get past the initial thrust of the film – that it’s a farce about four moronic British Muslims who decide to become suicide bombers – then its relatively easy going. Although you would expect Morris to up his game, freed from the constraints of television, he doesn’t really use the power of the silver screen to shock. Instead, his debut feature isn’t too far from the wholesome television comedy that Britain is famous for.

We open on the four in Sheffield (although I’m sure any Northern England mill town would have been a suitable stand-in) and a half-botched attempt at filming a home-made video to proclaim themselves as Jihadi terrorists. After a failed training trip to Pakistan, and the inclusion of a fifth member of the group, things get slightly more serious as they blunder into one situation after another.

It’s pretty hard to review a comedy and give enough sense of the film without giving the jokes away. Hence why it’s always a very bad idea to watch trailers for comedies. All I will say is that the film goes where other comedies dare not tread, without going too far.

(By the way, I lost the bet – the white-hair brigade stayed until the very end and seemingly enjoyed every minute).