Very slight but does have a detached, awkward charm to it that is helped by fairly frequent laughs and amusing moments

Rating: Null/10 (5 February 2009)

Nick is a bassist in his friend's band, which is today called The Jerk-Offs. He goes to play with them at a small venue despite his broken heart and unending attempts to get back with Tris through the medium of mixtapes. At the venue he is not only confronted with Tris with a new guy but also with the equally geeky and awkward Norah, who has admired Nick unseen by listening to his mix CD's when Tris bins them unheard. Their love of similar music sees them seeking out a secret gig by the band Where's Fluffy but things go wrong along the way, throwing them into chaos which may morph into a first date.
If the title and the (very good) soundtrack doesn't tell you what to expect from this film then the main cast almost certainly will because we are firmly in "awkwardly-cool" territory. With this in mind it is best to approach with caution if you're not a fan of this because there is not a lot more than this to win over the casual viewer. The narrative itself will not be enough because the story is a pretty loose thread about Nick and Norah falling for one another against a backdrop of a "cool, crazy night in NYC", which is a thread that doesn't really work. The style of the characters is of geeky detachment and this does have the knock-on effect on the story by never making the viewer really care that much for the characters as real people or getting that engaged in the story. Fortunately, if you like this sort of thing, you will find that it does have enough awkward charm to carry it off as a sort of quirky youthful piece but even then you won't find a romance that has much beyond this superficial charm.
Instead the film rides this free-wheeling charm for as long as it can. As my partner observed, few people this age are really this sorted, cool and free but the film needs them to be for this to work so they are. They have the run of NYC without limits of space, time or money to hinder them and in this regard the audience is drawn into this world and it felt fresh and fun. The laughs are sporadic but frequent enough to hold the attention while generally the aforementioned charm held me in a genial state where I was happy being even when the film wasn't working that well. The side characters help this a lot as they have no pressure on them narratively and so can be superficial and fun and still work.
The casting of Cera is hardly a stretch since this awkward stuff is his bread and butter. It would be nice to see him do something else (although I still want the Arrested Development film) but he is solid here, doing what is expected of him. Dennings is the same, doing awkward/ironic detachment very well and complimenting the overall style of the film. As I said though, the problem is that, with so much geeky-cool detachment the central relationship doesn't really work even if their charm means we quite like the characters. Yoo, Gavron and Gaynor are all fun and light in supporting roles that add energy and movement to the story but I felt a bit for Dziena who is a very simple manipulative character without any sense of being a real person below this. I'm told that this is not the case in the book so I may read that in the future. As suggested by the title of the film, the soundtrack is really good and fits the characters and feel of the film.
As a total product though, Nick & Norah is not a film that will be embraced by a mass audience. It is far too slight and superficial to draw the audience into the central relationship and it does rely on charm and an energetic and youthful tone to carry it through. Don't get me wrong - I found it charming, nice and quite fun, generally enjoying it but the minute it ended the memory started to fade and it is one of those films that does the job but not to the extent that it makes any sort of lasting impression.