Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

“I never wash my pants. I like to keep the night on them.”

Although the playlist isn’t infinite, it’s still sufficient.

Admittedly, this is not the film I wished to review, but An America Carol wasn’t playing at Newtown, so I settled with Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. This film was hyped up, mostly by my friends, but my expectations weren’t so high. I must say, however, that I was oddly impressed by what the film had to offer.
The film follows Nick, recently broken up with his girlfriend, and Norah, a friend of the girlfriend, who meet by coincidence. Both of them are searching the city for the secret venue of their favourite band. For the most part, the humor in this film depends on teen innuendos and toilet humor. It was lighthearted and easy to follow, and it felt nice to watch a film like that on the dawn of Oscar season, when all of the message-laden films will hit us.
There weren’t any major messages portrayed in this film. For the most part, it was a cute situational teen romance. It shows us what a good relationship is and what a bad relationship is, but it gives us such obvious distinctions between the two that there leaves no room for real life dilemma. However, I don’t think this movie was meant to be thought provoking. If it was, it failed miserably. The characters were, on the whole, presented in a light hearted manner, so there is no real strong inclination towards any set of them. With that being said, I doubt any of these characters will be remembered very well, nor do I think this film will be one that I constantly quote.
The cast was led by Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. I was impressed, after a great performance in Charlie Bartlett, with Dennings. She has a subtlety to her acting methods, down to the nuances in her facial expressions that really radiate a genuine character that we can all relate to. I think that we’re going to be seeing some great things from her. If only she would pick up a more serious script! I was far less impressed with Michael Cera’s performance. This film solidified my opinion that Michael Cera is only capable of playing one kind of character. If this is not the case, then he doesn’t have the heart to step up to a challenge and leave his comfort zone of the adorable awkward teenager. He better figure that out soon, because he isn’t getting any younger.
On the whole, this film left me feeling good. It wasn’t a thinker. This can be either good or bad on my rating scale. But, because I really had an overall positive opinion of this film, and would recommend it in six months or so for someone looking in the discount DVD bin, I will be generous. I give it a B.