Cute, sweet. Girls'll flock to it.

Rating: 7/10 (4 October 2008)

Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - Two kids in the various stages of bad relationships, Nick and Nora (Michael Cera and Kat Dennings), meet each other at a concert. They have a night of hi-jinx involving taking care of/ searching for Nora's drunken friend and an elusive cult band. This is directed by newbie director Peter Sollet and written by newbie writer Lorene Scafaria.
This move is cute and at times delightful. The target audience, based on the trailers that preceded it, is definitely girls (and, judging by who the mass majority of the audience was, they succeeded). The studios have hit on the fact that the girls like this Michael Cera kid. I have mixed feelings about him overall. He's not an actor. He's a star. The difference is that actors can play a multitude of different characters, often with the audience forgetting it's the actor. Cera has awkwardness down to a finely tuned craft, but he's only as good as who he is paired with. And therefore I'd say the bigger credit goes to Kat Dennings, who is a fine young actress and I expect big things from her in the future.
I did not come out of this hating Aaron Yoo, a fact that surprised me. Kudos to the makers for including gay men in the main cast. This is the 21st century. Gay men can and should do more in movies than be bffs to the leading female (that this movie breaks that mold depends on your opinions of Michael Cera's masculinity) and fashion designers telling Anne Hathaway how fat and unattractive she is. Aaron Yoo, Rafi Gavron and Jonathan B. Wright provide able comedic support in what I hope is not a career ending move for the latter two.
As I said, it's a cute movie. There are a few moments of lag or predictability and others of questionable character motivations, but it is a teen comedy after all. There is one moment near the end at the recording studio that left me roaring. I would have paid extra for a scene after the credits between Nora and her father regarding what happens in that scene. You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it. Ah it's probably best to leave it to the imagination.
Ironicaly most of the soundtrack to the movie is forgettable, but I'd take it in a heartbeat over the Juno soundtrack. All in all it doesn't matter what I say. This movie is going to steamroll everything else in theater. Girls are going to see it mostly, but boys who are dragged along will find they had a good time as well. Hooray to Michael Cera scoring another girl way out of his league, thanks to the magic of cinema.
Good but not great, Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist gets a B.