Wanna be American Graffiti

Rating: 5/10 (7 July 2010)

An OKish movie that tries really hard to be an indie version of American Graffiti but ends up more of a collection of far-fetched, unrelated, uninteresting scenes.
Start with the plot, or lack thereof. Bored rich kids go looking for some fun in the city and chase after a band called Where's Fluffy. That's pretty open ended and that's OK as long as the characters or situations are interesting. N&N gives us fairly run of the mill characters. Michael Cera is Nick which is to say Nick is Michael Cera, i.e. the same nervous self effacing character he plays in every movie. Opposite Nick is Nora, who is a character with no character traits whatsoever. To be fair, the writers don't give them much to work with. There are no universal truths discovered here and the romance comes across as forced. It has to be since we're only talking one night. I guess because N&N both like the same music that's supposed to be enough for us to buy into them making a love connection.
The supporting characters aren't handled much better. Nora spends too much of the movie looking for and worrying about her drunk friend. Eventually the movie runs out of uses for the friend and she passes out. Oh no, what to do! How convenient that Team Uber Gay comes to the Rescue to whisk her away safely. Nick's old girlfriend is really nasty which means she's due for some comeuppance but when it finally comes, it's nothing more interesting than leaving her on the side of the road.
Because so little happens you unfortunately find yourself being overly critical of what does happen. Like, since when did clubs get so lax about letting underage kids in? Where's all the alcohol coming from? Why would a rich owner give the keys to his recording studio to his minor child? And where are all these kids' parents anyway? Do they really allow them to roam the city all night unsupervised?
The good in the movie for me is Michael Cera. He's reminds me of what a teenage Woody Allen would have been like. Yes, it's the same character he plays in every movie but he plays it so well. He's like an old comfortable sweater. Alexis Dziena was OK too. At least she had a defined character to work with. Kat Dennings: I'm not getting it. I find her voice annoying and her acting wooden. Her range of expressions are all variations on looking pouty.