Sure, both Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and The Twilight Saga are page-to-screen adaptations with ardent fanbases, but the boys in Scott Pilgrim's corner wouldn't be caught dead seeing a Twilight movie of their own volition. The irony? Underneath Scott Pilgrim's geeky exterior and Twilight's swoony romance novel trappings, they may actually be the same movie.
Consider the evidence!
· Both Scott Pilgrim and Twilight center around a mumbly, passive protagonist in a love triangle with life-or-death stakes, and the main knock against the stars playing those leads (Michael Cera and Kristen Stewart) is that they trot the same bag of tics out in every movie.
· Both heroes find themselves intrigued by an icy love interest with a mysterious backstory. "Who's that?" they ask friends, many of whom are dead-set against the ensuing relationship. They've got a point: Anyone who chooses to date either Edward or Ramona immediately inherits a rogue's gallery of dangerous enemies, and is it really worth it when love interests this fickle have a tendency to skip out of town at the most inopportune moments?
· At the same time, each hero is stringing along a second love interest, an adorable, underage high schooler who continually pledges his or her love. Sorry, Jacob and Knives: It's never gonna happen. You might get a kiss or two, but it's not going any further than that.
· Both Twilight and Scott Pilgrim costar Oscar-nominated actress Anna Kendrick...for about five minutes.
· Whenever things seem to be going well for our hero and the primary love interest, a grudge-holding female foe inevitably zips in with a romantic score to settle. In fact, the specter of an inevitable battle royale with Twilight's Victoria or Scott Pilgrim's Roxy Richter looms so large that when the ultimate confrontation finally comes, the hero cowers to the side, letting the love interest do the bulk of the fighting.
· And speaking of those fight scenes: Sure, it may seem like the bad guys are made of flesh and blood just like everybody else, but when they're finally defeated, they shatter bloodlessly into a million little pieces and clatter to the ground.
· Neither Brandon Routh (as Scott Pilgrim's Todd Ingram) or Nikki Reed (as Twilight's Rosalie) make convincing blonds. At all.
· And finally, while Twilight mania gripped Comic-Con in 2009, Scott Pilgrim hysteria overtook the Con this year, with each film inspiring fans to wait in long lines just to be among the first to glimpse some footage (or in Scott Pilgrim's case, the entire movie). One heartening similarity? Whenever Bella found herself in a romantic clinch, or Scott kissed Ramona and inspired literal hearts to float off the screen, both Comic-Con audiences cheered wildly. Maybe their fans aren't so different, after all.