Older Reviews- Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist

            Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist tells the story of teenagers enjoying a perfectly imperfect night together- appropriate, since this is a perfectly imperfect movie for teenagers to watch on an evening out with each other. Blessed with believable acting, a witty screenplay, and one of the best movie soundtracks since Garden State, the film is definitely entertaining enough for its target audience.

            The film follows high school musician Nick (Michael Cera) and high school music lover Nora (Kat Dennings) as, accompanied on and off by separate groups of friends, run around New York City in search of a secret concert performed by their favorite band, Where’s Fluffy. The two leads are charming and entertaining to watch, with Michael Cera continuing to excel as a slightly nerdy but still lovable teen and Kat Dennings putting on an impressively realistic performance as his shy, awkward, subtly beautiful and sarcastic counterpart. The cast also includes Alexis Dziena as Tris, Nick’s teen queen ex girlfriend, Ari Graynor as Caroline, Nora’s fun but unreliable drunk friend, and Aaron Yoo, Rafi Gavron, and Jonathan B. Wright as Nick’s trio of homosexual companions, out to get Nick over Tris and onto Nora.

            What the actors provide with their believable performances, the film loses in its plot. The characters, even with their petty gossip and insecurities, feel more like college students than high school students- the one exception being Alexis Dziena, who performs several stripper-tease dances that really makes the audience wince, partly because she looks too young to be acting that way, and partly because so many high schoolers really do act that way. It simply does not make sense that the parents of these suburban teenagers would let them wander around New York City at four in the morning, looking for a performance without a set location and club hopping with more alcohol than the average frat party. The plot itself is predictable and filled with character archetypes- archetypes that the actors avoid falling into, but that the audience can still see in the screenplay. However, the film keeps from being a complete cliché by giving the audience enough to enjoy in the watching.

            The screenplay is witty in the same way Juno was witty, giving the characters sarcasm and one liners in a way reminiscent of The N’s commercials, calling their shows’ characters “like your friends, only funnier.” Caroline’s unreasonable obsession with holding onto the same piece of gum the entire night gets grosser and grosser, appealing to the PG-13 sense of humor the film aims for- the high point involving a public bathroom stall. The music backdrop brings to mind the early days of Questionable Content, referencing bands and labels that people in the know will laugh at and people not in the know will put aside and enjoy anyway. And the music itself almost makes the film worth watching on its own.

            So, while not a perfect movie, Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist is still worth seeing. Especially if it’s a Friday or Saturday night, and, unlike the characters, you’d rather not wander around New York in the middle  of the night in search of drunk friends and elusive rock bands. Grade: B+