The Reel Critic

Author: Jason Gutierrez

MOVIE: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
DIRECTOR: Alex Holdridge
STARRING: Michael Cera and Kat Dennings

In 1989 a film called "The Wizard" was released in theaters. Starring Fred Savage and Christian Slater, the film had the most paper thin of plots in order to cover up the fact that the film's real purpose was to sell the then somewhat new Nintendo. "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" is kind of like "The Wizard," except instead of marketing Nintendo they're selling New York City music venues, local indie bands and a lifestyle to go along with it.

The film revolves around Nick (Michael Cera), the recently dumped heterosexual bassist in a queercore band, who meets music-loving Norah (the luminous Kat Dennings) after a gig opening for Bishop Allen (who makes a brief cameo appearance). In an effort to pull Nick out of his malaise, his bandmates compel the pair to spend the night searching New York City for the secret gig of everybody's favorite band, Where's Fluffy. Norah's lush of a best friend, Caroline, complicates matters slightly, as the duo must eventually find her after she drunkenly wanders off into the New York night. Of course, Nick and Norah fall in love along the way, despite the best efforts of Nick's jealous ex to keep them apart. Normally I would mention something about a spoiler alert, but I can't imagine the end comes as a surprise to anyone.

"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" couldn't possibly be more clichéd, predictable or uninteresting. To call it "slight" would be an insult to after school specials everywhere. I didn't walk into the theater expecting a revelatory experience in narrative filmmaking, but I was still shocked by the cookie-cutter nature of the story and forced quirkiness of the dialogue. If John Hughes hadn't made a single movie in the 1980s, then "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" might have been able to pull off the teenage romance. But John Hughes did make a few movies in the 1980s, and screenwriter Lorene Scafaria either hasn't seen them or refused to recognize that the film she was writing stole everything from John Hughes' films.

Perhaps I am being a little too hard on Ms. Scafaria. After all, her dialogue did manage to avoid the grating quality of another not-really-indie film, "Juno." Written by Diablo Cody, "Juno" had the high-quality dialogue that made me want to stab myself in the ear with a pencil. "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," on the other hand, is a little bit more understated. These teenagers only sound five years older than they are, not a decade, and that is a somewhat welcome change.

What prevents "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" from being an unmitigated disaster is the undeniable appeal of leads Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. They both possess a fantastic set of skills that allow them to stay afloat, even when the mind-numbing plot threatens to sink the ship. They deliver their lines, as terrible as they are at times, with a charm that allows the audience to hate the writer, not the actors. Neither actor has show-stopping good looks, but that only adds to their appeal. These are people I know - they just happened to get trapped in an aggressively mediocre movie, but I like them anyway. I should also mention director Peter Sollet, who makes the frequently filmed New York City seem vibrant and exciting again. This may seem trivial, but it's a quite impressive feat, and it's one more element to distract from the inanity that is going on in the plot.

There is plenty of blame to go around for "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," but as much as I'd like to lay all of it at the feet of Ms. Scafaria, I can't. The real blame needs to be passed up to the suits at Columbia Pictures. Everything about the film feels clinically created to capture a new, young market. This isn't the organic product of a subculture, but is hipster culture chewed up and regurgitated by a corporate machine for the sole purpose of easy consumption by suburban teenagers. There is a fine line between representation of a lifestyle and the corporate sale of that lifestyle - "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" is a film that is on the wrong side of that line. It did make me start listening to Bishop Allen again - at least it has that going for it.