TITLE: NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST
FEATURING: Michael Cera, Kat Dennings.
DIRECTED BY: Peter Sollett
WRITTEN BY: Lorene Scafaria
RATING: 6.6
Don’t let the rating fool you, this movie is charming, occasionally funny and pretty effectively heartwarming. The titular characters are two heartbroken hipster teens in New York City, courting each other over the course of a long, tumultuous evening. It bares a nice passing resemblance to “one day of adventure in a city” classics like “Before Sunrise” or “After Hours” and uses its constrained scope and scale to make us truly care for the outcome of its characters and their evening.
But alas, the movie succeeds despite itself. Nick and Norah’s friends are one-dimensional idiots who read like what a movie executive thinks teenagers are like. Attempts to be authentic to what music and places hipster kids like felt forced and fell flat. The story’s setting is ultimately an afterthought and only hinders the things about the movie that do work, namely Nick and Norah talking about pretty much anything.
