Cinema sponges its advances from other media: Citizen Kane stole from radio, Kazan stole method acting from the stage, and now, at least in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the forms to plunder are video games and erratic Cartoon Network shorts. It’s not so much a giant stylistic leap as a lazy bachelor slouch forward, but these clear influences are what give Scott Pilgrim its liveliness and its tone freshness. The film’s tagline says it all: “An epic of epic epicness.” While Kick-Ass was fueled by the fanboy desire to become superheroes in real life, Scott Pilgrim is for the fanboys who would rather stay home and play the video game.

The plot itself is purposefully silly: twenty-something slacker Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) spends his time casually dating a high school girl (Ellen Wong) and playing guitar in a rock band with his friends. One day while napping, a mysterious girl with purple hair rollerblades through his dream space. A short time later, he meets this girl in real life: she is Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a cooler-than-thou hipster who speaks of her numerous break-ups with flat affect. Scott is in love. But trouble abounds when the exes that Ramona alluded to return, having joined forces, to battle to the death with whomever has attempted to date Ramona. 

It’s a silly set-up, but a nice metaphor for having to battle with someone’s past in order to date him or her. Kind of a more sunshiny version of Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind, complete with rainbow-haired vixen and surreal landscapes, but without the heavy emotions behind it. The dialogue is mostly silly and fun, with lines like, “If your life had a face, I would punch it,” and “You punched the highlights out of her hair!” The film rarely allows for more than feather-light upsets, playing off Scott’s disappointments with stylistic flourishes, like Seinfeld sitcom riffs and extra life tokens. But these stylistic flourishes are what make Scott Pilgrim entertaining.

Edgar Wright, director of the hipster cult comedies Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, knows how to cram a screen with details, and he’s given plenty to work with from the source material, a six-volume graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, incorporating many of the comic’s visual gags into the feature film: from thought bubbles and on-screen textual narration, to cartoon hearts and laser-like sound waves that stream out from Scott’s guitar like fireworks when he plays. These gags and the breakneck editing (shots so quick they practically strobe by) help keep the audience’s attention throughout, even at times when the story and characters aren’t complex or interesting enough to do so. 

Bubblegum doesn’t work without its pop, and Scott Pilgrim needs its constant barrage of visual effects to remain satisfying. Sure, it may be all style and little substance, but nevertheless, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World has a youthful charm to its humor. Even mainstream viewers unfamiliar with the comic will feel in on the joke.