The trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World looks completely charming and exciting. It's a great cast up and down, and even for the few seconds he's in it, the trailer became another entry in the case Chris Evans is making for me liking him:
But the trailer shook loose something that's been percolating in my mind for a while. What would the recent history of movies look like if Patrick Fugit had become the indie darling Michael Cera is, and was taking some of the roles he's taking now. It may just be because Fugit's six years older than Cera, but where Cera is a blank, Fugit's always struck me as open, and vulnerable: there's something behind those wide eyes. I never understood why Juno was so nuts about Paulie in Juno, but I absolutely understood why Mary might be terrified and tantalized by Patrick's attention in Saved! I don't think Cera's ever had a performance that equals Fugit's in Almost Famous. Superbad is fine, it certainly captures a certain adolescent anxiety, but so does Almost Famous without the intense reliance on vulgarity (which is only a sin when it's a crutch), and with a deep engagement with the transformative power of art. I wish Fugit worked more, and got the recognition he deserves. But in Hollywood even more so than in life, things are rarely fair.