Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
Directed by: Peter Sollett
Cast: Michael Cera, Kat Dennings, Alexis Dziena, Ari Graynor, Jay Baruchel
Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Rating: PG-13
Plot: Nick (Cera) is getting over his ex and Norah (Dennings) has baggage of her own. But when she asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend for five minutes, they are thrust together in a New York City night of adventure in a world of mix tapes, drunk friends, and live music.
Who’s It For? This is ideally for the high school crowd, but should appeal to a wider audience. You’ll get more of the same from Cera (which is a good thing).
Expectations: I was so excited that I forced the wife to come along for the screening. I had a hope/hunch this could rise above the typical, thrown together teenage flick. But with high expectations comes the possible of getting easily disappointed.
SCORECARD (0-10)
Actors:
Michael Cera as Nick: He’s not the everyman, he’s the ultimate everygeek. He’s the bassist in a gay band, but nothing becomes cliche. His bandmates aren’t gay just for a laugh and there will be tons of audience members who will be able to identify with Nick’s heartbreak and mix CDs and trying to get over an ex.
Score: 9
Kat Dennings as Norah: Dennings is a rare actress who can deliver a line about how she knows she isn’t the most beautiful girl AND IT WORKS. Compared to Tris, Norah isn’t as esthetically pleasing, but damn that personality makes all the difference. Norah has that perfect teenage balance between being cocky and insecure. There’s also a nice subplot with who her father is, but it never takes over the film.
Score: 8
Ari Graynor as Caroline: I really assumed drunk Caroline was done as soon as she hit her head on the van. Then I was convinced she would immediately over stay her welcome as the typical drunk friend. Nope, she far exceeded my expectations. Her ability to stick her hand in a public toilet to retrieve gum is a shining example of how “drunk friend” can equal “comic gold.”
Score: 7
Alexis Dziena as Tris: Typically the perfect looking girl becoming nothing more than a stereotype in these movies. Luckily Tris is annoying, but it’s subtle. She’s an attention whore who has used her looks her entire life. The only curiosity I have is that is seems someone of her stature would never have been with Nick in the first place.
Score: 7
Talking: The dialogue is authentic throughout. When Nick and Norah are alone in the recording studio the film reaches new heights with their conversation being the perfect awkward teenage excitement and tension. Plus, there will be tons of repeatable lines from this film such as my personal favorite, “I never wash my pants, I like to keep the night on them.”
Score: 9
Sights & Sounds: Here’s the complete playlist. Enjoy. Beyond the fantastic music, the score sounds like it could have been made on an 8-bit computer (in a good way). New York City comes to life as they are making a made dash to try and track down the band Where’s Fluffy? Someone should make a Google map of all the spots they hit.
Score: 9
PLOT SPOILERS
Best Scene: I have to go back to the moment in the recording studio when Nick and Norah finally have a chance (and want) to be alone together.
Ending: Suddenly I couldn’t figure out where the movie was going or how it would end. It just existed, like the cameras were left rolling. But then one final cleansing of the exes needed to happen and it all made sense.
Questions: OK, it was a bit out of character for Nick to just leave Tris on the side of some street, right? And if you lose a friend in New York, don’t you constantly call? And why wouldn’t she ever call you? Also, I keep going back and forth on this, but it’s not nearly as bad as the 200 Cigarettes ending, but how cool would it be for an actual band to be launched that way? Also, “Saturday Night Live” is 1-1 here. Seth Myers is great as the lush who mistakes Nick’s car for a cab, but Andy Samberg doesn’t do it for me as the homeless man with a dog fetish.
Rewatchability: Yeah. This is a film I want to introduce to people. Plus, with it only being an hour and a half, it’s going to be easy to take in a second helping.
OVERALL
I haven’t made a list, but this has to be one of the best high school/coming-of-age/romantic/comedy films of the past decade. First, and most importantly, everything actually feels like it could happen. Sounds simple and every slice-of-life film should be able to do this, but they don’t. Cera hasn’t worn out his ability to play the awkward teen, he’s perfected it, and Kat Dennings is fantastic opposite him. The on-and-off chemistry works with Nick, Norah and their exes, and it feels like you really do get to spend the night with these teenagers running around the city.
Score: 8/10
Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist Soundtrack
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Did you watch the same movie I did?
This has to be one of the worst movies of the summer.
You said, “First, and most importantly, everything actually feels like it could happen. ”
100% NOT TRUE. First off, no parent in their right mind would let their kid run around New York City alone.
Second, High school kids ( Kids under 18 ) cannot go into clubs… SORRY …. doesn’t happen unless you have a fake ID.
Third, Nora’s drunk friend has “favorite spots” in the city where she likes to throw up. YAH RIGHT …IF I was that Chinese dude in the mini market I would kicked that chicks ass if she kept coming into my store and puking in the freezer.
This movie is completely lame.
One of the most ridiculous parts of the movie is when Nora’s drunk annoying friend loses her gum in a NY City Subway bathroom. She reaches into the toilet and puts it back in her mouth…. GIVE ME A BREAK… I dont care if I was doing lines off a hookers a**…. There is no way I would reach into a toilet ( let alone a public toilet ) to get my gum.
Save your money
you don’t have to force everything in a movie to make sense. sometimes, viewers only want to enjoy the great chemistry between the two characters of the story. i have yet to watch this movie but i have a hunch that this movie would be really great. by the way, you don’t usually ask why drunk people do stupid things, do you
)
b dizzle have you ever seen the antics of a drunk person?? yeah living in a college town i have seen ppl do cartwheels on the street infront incoming traffic. saw the movie today and i liked it
there were some awkward moments in this movie that were hard to get past… such as every time that gum was passed around (yuck!)
Utter crap.
B, I’m with you on this one. Now, though I laughed from time to time (and definitely groaned), a lot of it (laughter) was forced. You know how you pay your hard-earned money to see funny, but aren’t quite getting it, so you decide to try to snatch the funny from somewhere? Well, that’s where I was.
Good acting, though.
But definitely save your money if you’re over 23. Or if you’re expecting something along the lines of a Juno-ish flick. And know that the commercials/trailers aren’t quite accurate in portraying what you’re gonna get.
What movie did you watch? Seth Myers and Andy Samberg were both hilarious. Also, how old are you that you think this actually has potential to happen? The whole time I watched it, I asked, “These kids are supposed to be in high school, right?” The response was, “Yes.” To which I responded, “And just how are they getting into all of these clubs?” The movie has some redeemable traits and is definitely quotable.
“You don’t have to yell. It’s not a train station. We’re in a tiny car.”
“Well, you’re two penises short of a Shania Twain reimagination band!”
“If anyone is getting raped in that van, it’ll be a guy.”
as well as a bunch of other little contextual one-liners…too many to list.
Everyone whining about their age- norah has the reputation to get into clubs and such. Nick is just in a band, which i guess can get SOME reputation out in NYC. You can be as young as 16 and be in a club as long as you are in a performance or work there. But, yeah, most of the characters are in their senior year of high school- they talk about going to college “next year” quite often. That blatantly puts them in the age of 18, anyway.
I can only assume that the book goes into further detail (i mean, hell, they’re paid by the word, usually) so i will definitely buy the book, just for comparing. This is one of my all-time favorite movies and every character in the movie reminds me of at least one of my friends. Like i say to everyone i show this movie to. “If you’re on the music scene, this will DEFINITELY hit home”