Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Brilliant and touching

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

And Kat denning is an absolute delight. Nothing bad happens and the supporting cast is very strong. Story holds up quite well and moves along with very few dead spots. Well worth the time, and the little bit by jay baruchy allel is dead on. great effort by all

I really enjoyed this film.I wasn't an indie band fan when I was a kid, and I never lived in NYC, and gay culture wasn't nearly so commonly accepted in the 80's, but I definitely remember one or two nights like Nick & Norah's. -That is, being shy and confused and alive and in love and following a bizarre series of events with little meaning until dawn, doing stupid things with friends because I had the energy and, 'it felt right at the time'. -I remember euphoric madness warring with the pull to be adult and responsible. This film captured that well, I thought.I feel like I knew those people.Yes, yes, yes, this film *was* filled with cliché. Real life has more subtleties and layers, and with smart people it also contains a meta-awareness, a self-observation. But I think this film WAS the meta-awareness and self-observation. -It had a need to pull a bunch of brief and random treasures together into a 90 minute narrative. (Treasures like sidewalk gawkers cheering when the car door was unlocked; Observations likely collected from genuine experiences). I can forgive a bit of contrivance to get that job done, especially when the treasures were sweet and the contrivances were smooth and earnestly performed.But here's a strange thing: I notice that this film has touched more than one nerve or two; there are some very strong reactions in the reviews for this movie which don't seem to stem from legitimate literary criticisms, but rather something more personal. -Which seems odd, given that nothing terribly intense happened. With the exception of a couple of garden-variety selfish jerks, the characters were quite harmless and kind.Anyway, I'd give this film a chance. It may strike a chord with you, as it did with me. If it doesn't, well.., just stop watching.

Nick is dealing with a bad breakup with everybody's dream girl, Tris (Dziena) Nick's outlook starts to get a bit brighter when Norah asks Nick to be his girlfriend for 5 minutes, so she can make an impression on Tris. It lasts longer than expected when they are forced to team up with Nick's buddies to track down Caroline's drunken friend. This is a very good coming of age film! It's got heart and originality in spades, something you don't see as often as you'd like in Hollywood. I'm sure there are many that will shake their heads at this, but Caroline's drunken adventures reminded a bit of Brenna's adventures in Babysitting! It's probably far- fetched, but maybe that was a tribute of sorts? Anyway, this movie has much more than meets the eye! It has two of my favorite things in this world! Romance and music. This film manages to combine both very well. I was really impressed by the realism and how genuine this movie was. A lot of the situations rang true for me. I liked some of the gags as well. A horny couple mistaking a yellow Yugo for a cab was hilarious. I'm not a huge fan of Cera's. His "awkward" shtick works very well in this movie, and I have to give him credit. His witty banter with Dennings felt like conversation you would see between two people in real life. I empathized with his situation. We've all had that girl we go crazy over...despite that she's a witch. Kat Dennings was the star in my mind. It's easy to see why she went on to stardom on 2 Broke Girls. Her character is easy to fall in love with and easy to relate too. She oozes charisma. Ari Graynor is likable as the dense best friend of Norah's. Alexis Dziena is good as the embittered and devious ex. I didn't think she was that hot though. Jay Baruchel is awful as usual. Andy Samberg has a cameo near the end. I can promise that you'll grin and smile at least a few times during this movie. If you want a feel good movie to uplift your spirits, this movie will do the job. Music buffs should love the soundtrack7.8/10

In my review for "Tonight You're Mine", I mentioned that the music in that film was like listening to an eclectic mixtape you haven't heard in a while. I guess I must have had a mixed feeling about that mixtape while watching "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist". Reader, that mixed feeling of mine was washed away as I got caught up in this hilarious and somewhat heartfelt teenage romantic comedy. To be clear, I never read the book by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan that the movie was based on. Had I read it and watching the film after that, my thought should've been: "Oh, well, despite some differences and an added subplot, it remains true to the book." It seems like it does remain true to the book, and while I'm still scratching my head thinking about that, the movie benefits really well from three leading performances, a superb supporting cast, a cool soundtrack, a funny and authentic script by Lorene Scafaria and terrific direction by Peter Sollett (Raising Victor Vargas). The always funny and charming Michael Cera plays Nick, a New Jersey teen who was dumped by the cold-hearted Tris (Alexis Dziena) and plays in a "queercore" band known as "The Jerk-Offs" (He's the straight guy playing guitar with two gay friends). The supremely outrageous Kat Dennings plays Norah, a Jewish girl who loves music, has a drunk best friend, Caroline (Ari Graynor) by her side and a "frenemy" in Tris and also has been burnt by love. It all changes in one night, when the two are on a mission to search for a very surprise show in New York for a band called "Where's Fluffy?". Along the way, Nick desperately (and secretly) wants Tris back, but she's with Gary (Zachary Booth), a slightly boring fellow, in order to make him jealous. Even Norah has a problem trying to keep her on-again, off-again FWB Tal (Jay Baruchel) in check. Throughout the movie, Nick and Norah travel in a yellow taxi-cab-like car known as the "Yugo", trying to find Fluffy and to also find Caroline, who, being the drunk best friend that she is, disappears from Nick's friends' van. Also, they learn about themselves, fall in love and also that a night like this should carry a playlist for when to start ahead. "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" does have its ups and downs at some levels, but 90% of the ups are more better than the 10% downs. Keeping a mellow, but edgy PG-13 vibe (the book, I guess, was more edgier) to make every 13-year-old being capable in going for a night like this, the movie has its charms and it also has a very real feel to it. Can you imagine 18-year-old teenagers going out to indie shows or to see someone you know play in a band? Sure, you can. I like Cera and Dennings here, their chemistry is spot-on sweet and funny as Nick and Norah. Ari Graynor is the scene-stealer perfection, especially when she has scenes by herself (including that scene when she's in a Port Authority bathroom and while she's chewing on a already-used gum) that shows a very unique, but drunk quality to it. The supporting cast is terrific, from Ravi Gavron and Aaron Yoo as Dev and Thom, Nick's gay friends to Jay Baruchel as Norah's Boyfriend with Benefits, who still loves her, but he wants his music career to blow up. (Did I ever tell you that Norah is the daughter of a record producer?) The one tiny misstep is Alexis Dziena as Tris. Don't get me wrong, Dziena is pretty and likable here, but to put her in as a mean girl with a somewhat semi-established personality about why she is who she is, it kind of threw me off. But still, I enjoyed the movie. It rocks on so many levels, and it is a night you won't forget. So, turn up the music and believe in the magic. Trust me on this one.