Pop culture guru David Ferguson revisits one of Kieran Culkin’s most iconic roles as Wallace Wells in 2010 film Scott Pilgrim Vs the World.

With Kieran Culkin’s Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor, we look at one of his most iconic roles. It is from the film Scott Pilgrim Vs the World (2010). He played Scott Pilgrim’s roommate and “bad gay”, Wallace Wells, a queer favourite in cinema history.

Based on Brian Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series of the same name, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World was co-written, produced and directed by Edgar Wright. It has a stellar cast, many of whom had been or were later cast in other comic book adaptations. In the film, Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera), a slacker musician and member of the band Sex Bob-Bomb, is trying to win a competition to get a record contract. He is also battling the seven evil exes of Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a girl he is romantically interested in.

Scott lives with his openly gay roommate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin). Wallace displays the uncanny ability to text at high, even while being unconscious due to his drinking. He texts Scott’s sister, Stacey (Anna Kendrick), to inform her about Scott’s dating problems. He also listens in on Scott’s phone conversations. So he’s a big gossip.

He seems to have an open relationship with “Other” Scott (openly queer actor Ben Lewis), Jimmy (Kerr Hewitt) and another unnamed boy. Not necessarily “bad gay” behaviour so far. However, Jimmy was originally the boyfriend of Stacey Pilgrim but Wallace steals him, something that Stacey suggests has happened before. Definitely some bad gay behaviour there. He also kicks Scott out when he needs to have sex. He still finds time to, in his own words, stalk his hetero crush, film actor Lucas Lee (Chris Evans).

Despite all this bad behaviour, Wallace is an important and positive role in Scott’s life. Wallace is the first person to note that Scott dating a teenager, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), is problematic. His other friends, from his band, Stephen (Mark Webber) and Neil (Johnny Simmons), applaud his ability to attract her.

Being his roommate, Wallace gets unwillingly dragged into his drama. He does seem to care though as, for example, he doesn’t allow the name of Scott’s ex “Envy”(Brie Larson) to be said in their apartment due to how badly she treated Scott.

While Scott’s sister nags him, Wallace seems to be able to put up with him, but he does call him out when necessary. He encourages him to fight the evil exes. Even when Romana seems to have returned to her ex, and all seems lost, Wallace urges him to fight on. Scott isn’t always a likeable character, but Wallace recognises that Scott is simply ignorant and didn’t intend to hurt people. So he helps him realise this.

Having grown up in the era of the nice gay best friend, I really enjoyed Wallace being a bad gay. He is also living his best gay life and we get to see that. Wallace also adds a snarky sense of humour to the film and acknowledges the ridiculousness of the story. Some might chalk the role up as simply a cameo, but he is an important part of the film and has some of the best scenes.