The first question that came to mind when watching the trailer for “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” was: why Nick and Norah? What possible relationship could the film – based on the book by Rachel Cohn – have to the classic “The Thin Man” book and six popular movies starring William Powell and Myrna Loy? After watching the movie, I still don’t know. Maybe it’s a reference to the pajama collection. Or maybe the book’s authors just liked the alliteration and the reference to those classic films is purely a pop-cultural by-product.
So “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” has nothing to do with that incomparable husband and wife sleuthing team, unless a bit of banter and romance makes up a feeble link. But it does have a few ingredients from other sources. It sets out with a “Napoleon Dynamite” vibe, gets juiced up on “Juno,” then veers from cute to almost insufferable as rom-com obligations delivers an aw-shucks endings that smacks of trying too hard. Michael Cena and Kat Dennings, as the titular Nick and Norah, basically reprise their performances in “Juno” and “Charlie Bartlett.” Cera still plays the inexplicably cool kid who has what women want, despite a kind of charming meekness that in a crueler movie world would come with beatings. (I say inexplicably not because I don’t think it’s nice to have a good-hearted, sensitive guy actually be cool in a movie, but because it’s hard to associate that with the real world.) Dennings is again the smart and beautiful love interest, touched with a dry kind of self-deprecation. The transplantation works because Cera and Dennings are immensely likeable and the chemistry, rooted in a shared passion for music, has a satisfying fizziness. The film works as a boy-meets-girl pastry because the characters are fun, the humour is affectionate, and the inevitable obstacles to romance (notably jealous exes) are believable. Even the mild, very mild touch of “Adventures in Babysitting” works well enough in taking us along as the kids traipse around a beautifully but not sentimentally shot nighttime New York.
“Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” has some of that sparkling hipness, that carefree spunk of an out-of-nowhere indie hit, like a “Juno” or a “Little Miss Sunshine.” But while irresistible, it’s a tad disappointing for selling itself out. Maybe the book’s to blame, but whatever: there’s nothing particularly hip about knowing where the characters are going and being proven right. It’s a case of overdoing it, of offering certainty when tentativeness is more authentic, of shouting when whispering is all that’s needed. The only question that remains after watching all-night shenanigans involving a drunk and missing friend and the search for a band whose elusiveness and love of the bait-and-switch would earn sneers and accusations of bloated egotism from me is: wait a minute, these are high school kids?
But I liked the film anyway.
Entertainment Value: ** (out of two)
Technical Quality: ** (out of two)
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. Directed by Peter Sollett. Written by Lorene Scafaria, based on the novel by Rachel Cohn. Starring Michael Cera, Kat Dennings, Ari Graynor, and Alexis Dziena. 90 minutes. Rating: PG-13 (mature thematic material including teen drinking, sexuality, language and crude behavior).
Frédérik invites you to discuss the film, and more, at his blog.