English director Edgar Wright would have to be one of the pioneering director’s when it comes to visual comedy. It’s rare nowadays to experience a comedic film in a witty, original and non-formulaic way through the sparking relationship between visual and sound. A good friend of mine highly recommended this video to me that encapsulates the distinction between Wright’s film making from the blockbuster comedies:

As the video suggests, Hollywood comedies have become generic with its typical “upbeat music over the aerial view of the city” introductions and improvisational dialogue that lacks visual excitement. To be honest, I haven’t watched through a majority of Wright’s films, but one of my all-time favourite flicks would have to be Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Below I’ve analysed a scene with its excellent execution of visual and sound, and analysed Michael Cera’s performance in relation to achieving this concept of visual comedy:

(SPOILER ALERT)

The continuous use of witty non-diegetic sound throughout Scott Pilgrim vs. The World compliments the catchy dialogue to evoke humour. Julie Powers often uses explicit language to suggest her deadpan, pessimistic personality and in conjunction is censored with a bleep noise. Scott’s comment “how did you do that” presents the meta- narrative and breaking of the fourth wall that the film conveys. Furthermore, this breaks the audiences’ expectation of a formulaic high school romance comedy and rather be enthralled by the unexpected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N13WI3oVda8   

Michael Cera’s comic timing through his dialogue delivery and innocently awkward facial expressions exerts humour that defies the expectations of the typical romantic comedy genre. In particular, his anxiety-laden tone in explaining his situation with Gideon to Wallace and his uncomfortable response to Knives and Young Neal’s “romance” overshadows the romance with eclectic humour that broadens the predictable demographic for romantic comedies. Cera is a personality star that is often type-casted as the insecure, innocent, soft spoken and awkward but loveable geek, creating the expected setting of a high school and comedic narrative.  Furthermore, his appearance in independent and underrated films, lanky appearance provided with a costume consisting of pop culture t-shirts, jeans and sneakers further personifies the character that is expected from the audience.