The Ball State Daily News Online

Section: FEATURES
Originally published: 10/6/08 at 11:14 PM EST
Last update: 10/7/08 at 12:19 AM EST

Lindsay Spoonmore is a junior journalism major and writes 'The Reel Review' for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. [Click to enlarge]

"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" brings the John Hughes' teen comedy/romance into 2008. Like the classic films, "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles," awkward teenage love is established during a single wild day, and the characters learn a hell of a lot about themselves along the way with the obligatory indie-rock soundtrack playing throughout the whole ride. Director Peter Sollett takes on the screenplay by Lorene Scafaria (based on the beloved novel of the same name) that centers around -­ guess who ­- two lost teenaged souls named Nick and Norah. They are interesting, modern and entertaining characters.

Meet Nick O'Leary (Michael Cera): Nick is a broken-hearted musician who serves as the only straight guy in a "queercore" band. He's still hung up on his trashy, controlling ex-girlfriend, Tris (Alexis Dziena), for whom, by the beginning of the film, he has made 12 mixed CDs since their breakup (which apparently went down on his "b-day").

Meet Norah Silverberg (Kat Dennings): Norah is a major music lover whose dad just happens to be a major recording studio owner. Norah is a smart-mouthed but nurturing bombshell who can't seem to make a real connection with a boy.

When Nick, Norah, Tris and Norah's gloriously drunk friend Caroline (Ari Graynor) run into each other at music club, feelings get hurt, egos are bruised and Norah - in an act of desperation asks Nick a fateful question: "Will you be my boyfriend for five minutes?" Thus begins a rather long and crazy night in Manhattan that includes a wild goose chase with Nick and Norah's favorite band "Where's Fluffy?" and Caroline, who takes off barfing all over the city. Graynor rocks as Caroline and gives probably the most hilarious, honest and lovable performance ever of a drunk chick.

Nick and Norah predictably deal with their exes, contemplate their futures, bond, fight and fall in love during their adventures. The movie gets a bit cliché at times, which is its biggest flaw. But the contemporary dialogue and truthful portrayals of the 18- to 20-year-old age group make the movie something special. It's a hipster version of "Superbad" without the gross-out comedy. An R-rating seemed to be something this movie desperately wanted and probably should've received. Thanks to the unfortunate PG-13 rating, bad language is minimal and sex is merely fully clothed, heavy breathing. It can make the audience feel slightly cheated, but it is enjoyable nonetheless.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools