Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a 23-year-old unemployed musician whose mind is blown by an in-line-skating delivery girl named Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). In order to win the girl, Scott must defeat Ramona's seven layers of evil exes. This potentially sulky spectacle is turbocharged in part thanks to the perfect casting of, well, everyone. Cera's portrayal of Scott Pilgrim has all of his trademark sweet, nerdy quirkiness cranked to 11. You don't need to know why Scott Pilgrim is willing to fight the seven evil exes after watching Winstead's deliciously deadpan performance -- you'd fight for this charming beauty, too. Director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) has a tough balancing act -- filling the movie's first half with hard laughs and the second half with a cavalcade of long, righteous fight scenes -- but for the most part he pulls it off.
Grown Ups follows five junior-high basketball teammates reuniting for a getaway weekend at a lakeside cabin in New England. This latest offering from Adam Sandler's production company is The Big Chill for morons.
Charlie St. Cloud is an overly sentimental effort that incorporates love, family drama, bereavement, comedy, seagoing adventure and mystical uplift. The nice thing about it is that Zac Efron is not complacently relying on his looks, like a junior-varsity Ben Affleck.
