A film based on the book by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn; Nick
and Norah's Infinite Playlist is about a diverse cast of characters
who get caught up in one night in the city, as they
look for an elusive indie-rock band, "Where's Fluffy", whose emblem is
a pink rabbit. The main characters are Nick, played by
Michael Cera and Norah, played by Kat Dennings. Nick is
the sort of affable emo guy that everyone likes, and Norah is a
complicated and blunt indie-rock girl. Throughout the night Nick learns
to forget his ex-girlfriend (who broke up with him on his birthday) and
appreciate the girl that is right in front of him.
The place where this movie shines is in the characters and the
dialogue. The characters are charming, adorable, full of zest,
especially Nick's band mates. The dialogue between the characters feel
spontaneous and real; it makes the film seem genuine. The only thing
that broke my suspension of disbelief was the security issue. All of
these high school students are running around New York City in the
middle of the night, and no one comes in contact with anything remotely
scary? Caroline, Norah's drunk friend, stumbles through Manhattan
without getting raped or mugged? In fact, she has done this
several times with the same result? It seems a little idyllic*.
I enjoyed this film. It didn't really have any high seriousness
and its characters live in a bubble of perfection where no one has to
fill up on gas and nothing appears to cost anything. But it made me
smile, and it was what I needed to see at the moment.
4 out of 5 apples
* Jack sez: "...NYC at night isn't as scary as you think it is - the bars close so late that there're people around pretty much all the time."