Mixed business

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is a
charming teen movie mash-up

by MARK SLUTSKY

If you took Superbad, Dazed and Confused, Adventures in Babysitting, High Fidelity and Juno and put them all in some sort of movie blender, the resulting puree could be said to resemble Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, a new, indie-rock-flavoured teen romcom directed by Peter Sollett (Raising Victor Vargas). Is that a good or a bad thing? Depending on your reaction to that list of movies, you’ve probably made up your mind already.

But if the idea of it doesn’t completely turn you off, you’ll find that Nick and Norah (I always want to call it Nick and Nolte’s Infinite Playlist) is a sweet, funny and likeable movie. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel by any means, but it’s a good-natured teen flick with a decent soundtrack and the kind of fun “up all night” premise I’m always a sucker for.

Michael Cera is Nick, a music-loving high school student still hung up on (and making mix CDs for) his evil ex Tris (Alexis Dziena). Those CDs, unbeknownst to him, have fallen into the hands of Norah (Kat Dennings), Dziena’s Catholic schoolmate, who adores them. One night, everybody heads into New York City to find a popular band’s secret gig and their paths all cross, leading to many romantic hijinks.

Cera and Dennings make a nice pair. He’s as winsome as ever, and she’s got an appealing, intelligent onscreen charm. It’s nice to see a romantic pair that seems appropriately matched too: both are attractive, but look more or less like normal people. While that’s common enough with male leads, it’s nice to see a movie where the shlub doesn’t end up with a spectacular supermodel. The movie also deals with teen sexuality with a matter-of-fact frankness that might horrify some but is pretty honest.

Maybe I liked this movie because of a hardwired sympathy for lovelorn, mixtape-making teenage shlubs. But there’s definitely a bit more to it—beyond the romantic main arc, Nick and Norah is full of the kind of wacky running-around-the-big-city subplots that you used to find in ’80s movies, some decent tunes, and good character performances. Like a good mix, it’s an entertaining mish-mash of fun stuff.

NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST
OPENS THIS FRIDAY, OCT. 3

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