Ah, the mix tape. Nothing says raging teenage hormones and a desperate attempt at love better than a personal statement carefully styled to the tape’s intended recipient. Not only does this melodic disc play a role in “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” but, ironically enough, the film itself feels like it was created in the same fashion, judging by the way the creators tailor it to America’s youth with forced “hip” dialogue and an influx of indie rock. All the same, the film still serves as a rather entertaining romp through New York City.
Director Peter Sollett (“Raising Victor Vargas”) and his team of writers clearly display their lack of experience — not one has worked on a feature film — as they misguidedly follow the recent trend of trying to make a major studio picture fit the mold of a trendy indie flick (read: “Juno”). The result is a haphazard mess of a screenplay that would have been painfully off-key had it not been for a talented group of young actors keeping it somewhat in tune.
Nick (Michael Cera, “Juno”) is a straight bass player in an all-gay band aptly named “The Jerk Offs.” After a gig one night, he is asked by Norah (Kat Dennings, “The House Bunny”) to be her boyfriend for five minutes to prove a point to her classmate Tris (Alexis Dziena, “Fool’s Gold”) who just so happens to be Nick’s ex. In an attempt to set the two up, Nick’s bandmates send Nick and Norah off on a wild night together centered on chasing down Norah’s drunk friend Caroline (Ari Graynor, “An American Crime”) and discovering the whereabouts of the notoriously exclusive band, “Where’s Fluffy?”.
As a comedy, this film has a number of hilarious moments, but unfortunately a lot of the humor is lost in translation due to the poorly written script. This leaves the actors picking up the pieces and making the best out of what is available. Nonetheless, Aaron Yoo (“21”) and Rafi Gavron (“Breaking and Entering”) are a pleasant, comedic surprise as Nick’s homosexual bandmates and provide an abundance of gay-related humor that generates tons of laughs yet manages to remain tasteful.
And then there is Cera. Coming as no surprise to “Arrested Development” fans, Cera has really proven himself to be one of the best young talents in the business. Not since Anthony Michael Hall starred in such quintessential teen films as “Sixteen Candles” and “The Breakfast Club” has the role of the shy outcast been repeatedly portrayed with such perfection. In the movie, his facial expressions speak to the audience just as loud as any of his words, and the comedic timing of his soft-spoken, witty comments could not be any more spot-on. And as terrible as it would be to see Cera become typecast — this is the third time in just a little over a year that he has taken on a similar character — it is such a guilty pleasure to see him in these sort of roles that you almost hate to see him take on something new.
Despite being overshadowed by co-stars, Dennings still puts in a decent performance as the sensitive girl who always plays by the rules. She is at her best when sharing the screen with Cera. The two have tremendous chemistry that really shines in the scenes where they playfully banter with each other. On the other hand, the romantic scenes between them are not quite up to par, but you can chalk that up to the cringe-worthy dialogue forced upon them.
Even though the tracks are cliche for the mold this movie is trying to fit in, the film’s soundtrack is a captivating final touch that really helps pull everything together. Whether it is the sounds of Vampire Weekend pumping out of Nick’s rusted yellow car stereo as he cruises the neon-laded streets of NYC or Bishop Allen jamming at one of the many clubs the group ends up at, all is well as long as the music is playing.
All in all, do not expect to see another “Superbad” by going to this film. Not only does “Nick and Norah” not quite reach that plateau, but the movie features a different brand of comedy than you might find in a Judd Apatow flick. Instead, expect an overall enjoyable film that features the bankability of Cera despite having to tiptoe around the screenplay’s pitfalls.
3 stars out of 5
