Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Review [2]
Posted by Joseph Lee on 10.07.2008
Well, it felt like infinity.
Starring:
Michael Cera as Nick
Kat Dennings as Norah
Alexis Dziena as Tris
Ari Graynor as Caroline
Story: While performing at a show with his band, Nick spots his ex-girlfriend Tris with a new boyfriend. When Tris chastises her friend Norah on not having a boyfriend, she has Nick pretend to be with her for five minutes. They kiss and sparks fly, so they end up having a night on the town searching for Norah's drunk friend Caroline and popular band "Where's Fluffy?"
Fun Trivia: The movie took 29 days to film and was shot entirely at night, with the actors working from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. and sleeping through the daylight hours in order to keep themselves active at night.
I've never read the book that this film is based, but I'm becoming a fan of Michael Cera's and felt that was enough reason to see this. His star is rising quickly in Hollywood as an average, awkward loser who audiences connect to because he's also very easy to relate to. He has the same style of acting that Hugh Grant did in all of those romantic comedies he did. After starring in Superbad and Juno, Cera now has to support a movie on his own in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.
Nick has been broken up with his girlfriend Tris for an unknown amount of time, but he's still not over her and continues to make mix CD's. Tris finds this pathetic, and usually throws them away, but friend of a friend Norah likes the music and keeps them, not knowing who Nick is. Nick also performs for a band called "The Jerk-offs", and this is where the two title characters meet. Norah hires Nick for a five-minute boyfriend, they kiss and then decide to travel together to find "Where's Fluffy".
This is essentially the entire movie. The beginning occurs, introducing the multiple characters (and there are a lot of them), then it becomes a search for both the enigmatic band as well as Norah's drunk friend Caroline. While this could be a nice movie about a night on the town of New York, none of it is really that memorable. Nick's gay friends, his ex, Norah's on-again off-again ex, none of it really works. Basically the movie has a lot of characters, perhaps believing that Cera and Dennings can't carry the movie on their own. The multiple characters drag the movie down and the fact that none of them are interesting hurts it.
There's also the fact the story is very familiar and while all these things are going on, it feels like nothing is actually happening. The movie's biggest flaw is that it should be about it's title characters yet feels the need to throw in unnecessary plot elements and characters. Was the drunk friend really necessary? What purpose did she serve, ultimately? There are also some unfunny jokes, and the biggest one that happens to be one of the running ones is the gum that seems to go everywhere and keeps being chewed. It's just not funny and it's purpose is clearly played for laughs.
It's a shame that Cera and Dennings were not allowed to carry the movie on their own because they provide some good performances and share a lot of chemistry. It's the moments when they are together and bonding that the movie shines. Unlike everyone else in this movie, Nick and Norah are real people, fully fleshed out and likable. You can feel the chemistry on the scene and especially in a cliched, predictable story such as this, that does nothing but help. There are also some little moments like the scene in the recording studio that again, focus only on Nick and Norah.
Nick and Norah aspires to be the next big romantic comedy and unfortunately falls flat. It runs slowly, making it feel longer than it should. The many and varied characters are not fleshed out, stereotypical and uninteresting. That said, when Michael Cera and Kat Dennings share the screen together, they have a spark that is able to carry their scenes and bring the movie above the point of mediocrity.
The 411: In spite of the fact Nick and Norah's run time being eighty minutes, it tends to run slowly for the first half. The movie is somewhat cute and has two endearing leads. However, multiple characters and plot lines drag everything down instead of focusing on the two title characters. This makes for a somewhat unsatisfying romantic comedy.
