Plug your Ipods in, put your CDs on and pump up the volume for this hilarious and heartfelt teenage comedy

Rating: 8/10 (28 August 2012)

In my review for "Tonight You're Mine", I mentioned that the music in that film was like listening to an eclectic mixtape you haven't heard in a while. I guess I must have had a mixed feeling about that mixtape while watching "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist". Reader, that mixed feeling of mine was washed away as I got caught up in this hilarious and somewhat heartfelt teenage romantic comedy. To be clear, I never read the book by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan that the movie was based on. Had I read it and watching the film after that, my thought should've been: "Oh, well, despite some differences and an added subplot, it remains true to the book." It seems like it does remain true to the book, and while I'm still scratching my head thinking about that, the movie benefits really well from three leading performances, a superb supporting cast, a cool soundtrack, a funny and authentic script by Lorene Scafaria and terrific direction by Peter Sollett (Raising Victor Vargas). The always funny and charming Michael Cera plays Nick, a New Jersey teen who was dumped by the cold-hearted Tris (Alexis Dziena) and plays in a "queercore" band known as "The Jerk-Offs" (He's the straight guy playing guitar with two gay friends). The supremely outrageous Kat Dennings plays Norah, a Jewish girl who loves music, has a drunk best friend, Caroline (Ari Graynor) by her side and a "frenemy" in Tris and also has been burnt by love. It all changes in one night, when the two are on a mission to search for a very surprise show in New York for a band called "Where's Fluffy?". Along the way, Nick desperately (and secretly) wants Tris back, but she's with Gary (Zachary Booth), a slightly boring fellow, in order to make him jealous. Even Norah has a problem trying to keep her on-again, off-again FWB Tal (Jay Baruchel) in check. Throughout the movie, Nick and Norah travel in a yellow taxi-cab-like car known as the "Yugo", trying to find Fluffy and to also find Caroline, who, being the drunk best friend that she is, disappears from Nick's friends' van. Also, they learn about themselves, fall in love and also that a night like this should carry a playlist for when to start ahead. "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" does have its ups and downs at some levels, but 90% of the ups are more better than the 10% downs. Keeping a mellow, but edgy PG-13 vibe (the book, I guess, was more edgier) to make every 13-year-old being capable in going for a night like this, the movie has its charms and it also has a very real feel to it. Can you imagine 18-year-old teenagers going out to indie shows or to see someone you know play in a band? Sure, you can. I like Cera and Dennings here, their chemistry is spot-on sweet and funny as Nick and Norah. Ari Graynor is the scene-stealer perfection, especially when she has scenes by herself (including that scene when she's in a Port Authority bathroom and while she's chewing on a already-used gum) that shows a very unique, but drunk quality to it. The supporting cast is terrific, from Ravi Gavron and Aaron Yoo as Dev and Thom, Nick's gay friends to Jay Baruchel as Norah's Boyfriend with Benefits, who still loves her, but he wants his music career to blow up. (Did I ever tell you that Norah is the daughter of a record producer?) The one tiny misstep is Alexis Dziena as Tris. Don't get me wrong, Dziena is pretty and likable here, but to put her in as a mean girl with a somewhat semi-established personality about why she is who she is, it kind of threw me off. But still, I enjoyed the movie. It rocks on so many levels, and it is a night you won't forget. So, turn up the music and believe in the magic. Trust me on this one.