Welcome to “Friday Favorites” which highlight some of my favorite movie-related things.

After last week’s super-sized Friday Favorite, today’s will be a bit simpler.  For some reason, I absolutely love this joke.  It might be my favorite part of the whole movie.  Take a look and then read on:

The think about Scott Pilgrim as a character is that he starts out as a complete loser.  He’s 23 and dating a high schooler, not because he has any particular feelings for her, but because it’s easy and the expectations on him are low.  He also objectifies not only the women in his life, but really everyone.  He only sees the aspects of them that are useful to him, and he doesn’t care about the rest of things.  He has no motivation, no prospects, no redeeming qualities.  In fact, his only skills are fighting and playing bass guitar.

However, despite all of that he’s still charming and funny.  He’s clever and geeky and has potential.  You can see it in the way other characters seem to really care about the way he’s wasting his life, especially his roommate and sister.  But his sense of humor and style is what makes him unique.  The idea of someone spelling out “SUX” in fridge magnets while asking “You know what sucks?” doesn’t seem particularly original or creative.  But having him take an 8 and turn it into the sign for infinity while answering “Everything” is pure genius.  It’s just so damn clever and unexpected that I’m jealous I didn’t think of it.

It’s a moment that isn’t in the graphic novels (which are excellent, I highly recommend them), but it feels perfectly in line with the character Bryan Lee O’Malley created.  Michael Bacall and co-writer/director Edgar Wright must have come up with it.  It’s the little touches that show Scott Pilgrim’s potential, and make us root for the character to grow up and learn to respect women and himself.  Scott Pilgrim, as he starts out, is the sort of character I love on screen but would hate to spend time with in real life, but by the end of the story, he’s grown into something better.  It’s quite a feat to make the main character of an action comedy someone that the audience initially can’t stand, yet still keep people interested in his journey.  And it’s little moments like this that help the filmmakers pull it off.

What do you think?  Do you like Scott Pilgrim as a character?  Is there another moment in the film that you like more?  What’s the funniest part of the movie?  (“It’s milk and eggs, bitch”?)  Let me know in the comments!