Film Review: Nick & Norah’s Infinite PLaylist

October 13, 2008 by Svetlana  Send to a Friend

And to think that after the disaster that was Nights in Rodanthe, I thought I could never love (a movie) again. Shame on me.

I am also a few days late with this review, but I figured, this way, at least some/more of you may have seen it and we can talk/comment about it some more.

As you probably already know, the cult of Michael Cera is reaching its pinnacle.
I will admit that I WILL go see ANYTHING he is in, and then maybe follow that up with some talk of feeling like a complete cougar because I want to marry him, and then quickly add that “I don’t care”.
And the thing is - I am by no means alone in my sentiments. The theatre was filled with grown women harboring dirty thoughts towards barely pubescent (looking) movie stars.
Loving Michael Cera is so cool these days, some may say it is uncool (?).

Now, back to the movie.
“Nick and Norah’s infinite playlist” is of the “Garden state” movie genre.
It is out there to change your life through music and youthful yearning and earnestness, and whether it succeeds depends hugely on whether you let it.
It also knows it has to cater to both the (jaded) big city youth it portrays and the mass audiences it is trying to reach without talking down to one or going over the head of the other.
Its an inside joke movie that cannot afford to be too much on the inside.
Which is tricky, tricky.
To quote New York Times: As thin as an iPod Nano, as full of adolescent self-display as a Facebook page, “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist” strives to capture, in meticulous detail, what it’s like to be young right now.

The story takes place over one night, where Nick (Cera, driving a Yugo, in skinny jeans, zip up hoodie and a member of a 2/3 gay band named “The Jerk-Offs” -for now), still pining over his skinny bitch (naturally) ex-girlfriend Tris (she “dumped him on his b-day” and for the record, is not cute or fun or smart or anything for that matter, she just spends a lot of time on her hair) meets Norah (played by Kat Dennings who is your smart, pretty-but-does-not-know-it kind of girl, as though she had never seen any other movies with smart, pretty-but-does-not-know-it girls and recognized herself in them, and would now know she IS pretty) and her very drunk friend Caroline (hilarious Ari Gaynor) and they all go looking for love in between shows and dirty bars and bar bathrooms.
Love and a band named “Where’s Fluffy”.

The movie is funny, the supporting cast is great (the skinny kid from “Undeclared”, Jay-can’t-spell-your-last-name-shcnel is stellar as the cheesy Jewish-wannabe-pop star (sort of) ex boyfriend) and the quotes, when they are good, are really good (”I refuse to be the goody bag at your pity party”) no matter how predictable, and Devendra makes a cameo, instantly elevating this movie a notch or ten up in my eyes, and provides the pivotal song for Nick and Norah to do the “haridryer dance” to:

And everyone from Takka Takka to Vampire Weekend has their hands in the OST pot, making you bob along (sort-of) knowingly through the whole thing, and there is a REALLY HORRIFYING toilet scene that sort of blows “Trainspotting” out of water, and there is (implied) teenage sex (I think, and call me a prude, sort of unnecessary teenage sex-ed), and Jimmy Hendrix references and a quick tour through every bar in NYC that you may want to go to (Delancey-check, Arlene’s grocery-check, Bowery Ballroom-check….) and is almost smug.
Almost.

But it also has a lot of heart, and adorable stars, and a great city as a playground and a premise we all wish happen(ed) to us at some point.
And at the end when she says to him “Are you sad we’re missing it?”
and he says “We’re not missing it, this IS IT”
You will swoon.
Even if on the inside.

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