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Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist [Blu-ray] |  | Actors: Michael Cera, Kat Dennings
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
This item is no longer available
Rating:  5 reviews
Language: English (Unknown)
Media: Blu-ray
Region: 1
Number Of Discs: 1
ASIN: B001C48EE2
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
In the big-screen version of Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's popular young adult novel, two high-school seniors fall in love over the course of one eventful evening. A straight bass player in a queercore band, Nick (iJuno/i's Michael Cera) has just been dumped by the two-timing Tris (Alexis Dziena). He's committed to making more self-pitying mix CDs until his bandmates convince him to help track down a top-secret rock concert. Meanwhile, Norah (iCharlie Bartlett/i's Kat Dennings) and her hard-partying pal, Caroline (Ari Graynor), set off on the same journey. Nora had never met Nick, but she already had a crush on him (While attending the same school as Tris, she's been enjoying the mixes Nick keeps making--and Tris keeps throwing away). When the inebriated Caroline goes missing, they spend the rest of the night racing around the Lower East Side in his Yugo looking for the friend, the show, and trying to avoid Tris (Norah's ex-boyfriend, Tal (iTropic Thunder/i's Jay Baruchel), presents further complications). Peter Sollett's follow-up to iRaising Victor Vargas/i aims to please several audiences at once. It starts out like a less dirty-minded iSuperbad/i, morphs into a post-millennial iAfter Hours/i, and ends as a Big Apple take on iBefore Sunset/i. It's sweet and funny, but could use more of its own identity, though Cera and Dennings make for an appealing couple and the supporting performers, especially Graynor and Kevin Corrigan in a wordless cameo, enhance the proceedings considerably. i--Kathleen C. Fennessy/i
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| Customer Reviews:
 Very appealing performances but a MESS of a plot. October 27, 2008
RMurray847 (Albuquerque, NM United States)
When I first saw a preview for NICK NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST, my first thought was that it was trying to be a SUPERBAD for 2008 with something to appeal to girls as well as guys. Then I realized that the film was just PG-13...so that couldn't be right. br / br /Then I thought, okay, it's going to be a less vulgar but still slapstick version of that film, with lots of drinkin', barfin' and makin' out. And although there is some of that, I was wrong there too. br / br /NICK NORAH is a fairly old-fashioned romantic comedy, set against a "rebellious" background that actually is pretty tame. It was a pleasant movie with two hugely appealing lead actors...but a movie that veered pretty wildly off course from time to time. It was not in total control of its tone, but held enough innate appeal for me to give it a modest recommendation. br / br /Michael Cera (of the aforementioned SUPERBAD, but forever holding a place in my heart for ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) is Nick, a sweet kid from a poor Jersey neighborhood, just coming off a crushing breakup with Tris, a "hot" girl from a much more upscale neighborhood. Nick is shy and stammering...in fact, he's a lot like the kid Cera played in both JUNO and SUPERBAD. (It's a good thing Cera has this role so dialed in that we don't mind seeing it again...although I hope he gets a chance to stretch sometime soon, or he could become another Andrew McCarthy.) So, while practically bed-ridden with grief over his lost love, Nick reluctantly agrees to go with his two band mates to play a gig "in the city" in the wee hours of a Friday night. Their band, with a profane name I won't repeat here, lacks a drummer, but otherwise seems to be reasonably talented. Nick's bandmates, drive a van and are both gay but not partners. I only mention this, because later in what becomes a VERY long night, his two bandmates, and the new "boy toy" one of them picks up figure very prominently in events. (Although most of the events are too convoluted for me to try to summarize here.) br / br /Then there's Norah, played by relative newcomer Kat Dennings, who suddenly appears to be in every other movie released. I knew her from THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, but she's older and far more appealing here. Dennings is an unusual beauty, at least for the movies. She's not rail thin, has questionable teeth...but has a sultriness coupled with a sassiness, all wrapped up in vulnerability that makes her very appealing. She's come to town with a friend of hers, mostly to serve as that friend's chaperone and to hold her hair when she drinks to much and needs to throw-up. Norah is also a close acquaintance of Tris, Nick's ex...even though she has never met Nick. But she already likes Nick, because she always loved the mix CDs he's make for Tris. br / br /So, all the main characters are in the big city for a night of club hopping. Nick Norah meet, and due to their shared love of a band called Where's Fluffy, they set out on an adventure to find the mystery location in which Where's Fluffy will be playing that night. But while they enjoy getting to know each other, Nick's bandmates manage to "misplace" Norah's drunk friend AND Nick's ex Tris decides she can't stand seeing Nick with Norah, and tries to win him back. From time to time, random cameo appearances from the likes of Andy Samberg and Seth Meyers present diversions...some less successfully than others. The film meanders through the night, and thus its pace meanders too. Some scenes are quite funny. Others seem clunky. There are moments of perfectly crafted sweetness, and others that are too cloying. Sometimes the plot promises to follow the outlines of a classically constructed farce, and then it just drops a thread and goes a different direction. br / br /Ah heck, I'm going to give up explaining any more of the plot. I hope you get the idea that it is somewhat rambling and random. br / br /In the end, it is the actors who make NICK AND NORAH work. They are all appealing, from the top down. Cera Dennings have some real chemistry. While I appreciate that the plot of the movie echoes the very scattered, rambling night the characters are experiencing...a tighter hold of the tone was still possible. br / br /Also, for a movie so interested in music, there was very little of it. We hear the characters talk about their favorite work an awful lot, but we hear very little. I think of a classic old film like AMERICAN GRAFFITI, which followed a similar rambling style, and I think about how that film was knit together by its never-ending background music. NICK NORAH would have greatly benefitted from this. br / br /Just to give you an idea of how this movie bounces all over, I would say it was a combination of a tamer SUPERBAD, a teenage-centric AFTER HOURS, a '08 AMERICAN GRAFITTI and a less literate BEFORE SUNRISE, with just a smidgen of a John Hughes aesthetic tossed in. Those are all great influences...but a mash-up of all of them yields only middling results. br /
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist October 20, 2008
Michael Zuffa (Racine, WI United States)
It has been a while, but Nick (Crea) is still trying to get over his ex-girlfriend Tris (Dziena). One night, he and his friends head out into New York City to look for the secret site where his favorite band, Where's Fluffy, is playing. Norah (Dennings) is going on the hunt as well, with her friend Caroline (Graynor). Norah has a bit of a crush on Nick through an inadvertent sampling of mix cds he had made for Tris. At a club, to overcome not having a boyfriend when questioned, she gets Nick to play the part. Together, they set out to find Where's Fluffy and Caroline, who is drunk and missing in NYC. br / br /"Nick and Norah" succeeds because of two things: the chemistry between Cera and Dennings, and the quality of the screenplay. Nick and Norah are likeable characters that belong together, even if it takes them a little while to figure it out. The relationship develops slowly, and pays off nicely. The script is smartly written with clever dialogue. The movie is fresh and enjoyable. I recommend "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist." br /
Nick and Norah INDAHOUSE! October 15, 2008
E (New York City)
When it comes to me in relationships, I suck at them. There are some good relationships that I can get through, but there are some bad ones that I have to go through. But on the bright side, I actually like romantic teen comedies. There are some like the chick-flick "Juno" and the standups like "Superbad" or "Drillbit Taylor." br / br /And now, you get in "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" -- one of the better teen comedies out there. There's lots of music that's worth for the soundtrack. And now, I have all the songs onto iTunes. br / br /"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" tells the story of a guy named Nick (Michael Cera) who breaks up with a girl and falls in love with a lovely teenager named Norah (Kat Dennings). Together they encounter one magical night ganging up with friends, going to parties and making a lot of music. br / br /See, that's how I summed it up. br / br /"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" is a lot of fun. The music was brilliant. If you like the music, you should enjoy the soundtrack. But trust me, if I was partying all night long, I would be very happy. Though my ideas of nights out are movies and dinner whether it would be steak, burgers or pizza. However music and partying is one of my friend's option so this movie should fit my taste in a party movie. I loved the scenery of New York City and Brooklyn at night. br / br /"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" has lots of charm. In fact it's probably because of Michael Cera. He looks young which makes him prove all the charm he can possibly get in all of his movies. And the fact that he falls in love with Kat Dennings which makes it more of a charm. br / br /Overall, "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" is a good night out type of movie. I had so much fun with it. In the end, you could possibly be thinking, should this film get a little more funnier than that. Believe me, the movie made me laugh at most parts. I was entertained.
Original Nighttime Soundtrack October 9, 2008
Chris Pandolfi (Los Angeles, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Nick Norah's Infinite Playlist" is at times about as awkward as a teenager going through a showoff phase. I don't pretend to know what point the filmmakers were trying to make, and I certainly can't say that I related to anything that was happening. Still, there was something oddly fascinating about the dynamic between the title characters. Nick O'Leary (Michael Cera) and Norah Silverberg (Kat Dennings) are so insecure that it takes them forever to realize they were made for each other. We know this not just because of their identical tastes in music; the way they interact with one another, the way they speak and gesture, makes them a perfect match. They first meet when Norah, desperate to appear that she has a date, asks Nick to be her boyfriend for five minutes. What should have ended with a brief kiss quickly turns into a chaotic night through New York City's independent music scene, filled with jealous exes, drunk friends, strange bars, and the search for an elusive band called Where's Fluffy. br / br /That being said, I'm hesitant to give this movie anything higher than three stars. As interesting as the premise is, "Nick Norah's Infinite Playlist" is too offbeat for its own good. The characters are hard to relate to and the story is at times incredibly silly, so much so that it surpasses mere comedy and goes over the top. Some will appreciate the film for those specific reasons, which is fine, I guess. But I personally wanted something a little more meaningful, a little more sparing with its comedy. There are ideas that work very well, not the least of which is the relationship between Nick and Norah, who meet at a small New York City bar. This is where Nick and his band have a gig. As it turns out, Nick hasn't quite been himself for a while; he broke up with his girlfriend, Tris (Alexis Dziena), and ever since then, she hasn't been returning his calls. All he can do is keep giving her mix CDs. Tris, who doesn't have a nice bone in her body, callously throws the CDs away. There to retrieve them is Norah, who attends the same high school as Tris. Norah, it seems, loves Nick's musical selections. br / br /When Norah, her best friend, Caroline (Ari Graynor), and Tris and her new boyfriend show up at the same bar the night of Nick's gig, Tris insinuates that Norah is a loser for not having a date. Not true, Norah claims. She came here with Nick, and she proves it to Tris by kissing him. This makes Tris jealous. Why? There are a number of possible reasons. It could be that she's the kind of person who wants what she doesn't have, and what she does have, she doesn't want. Or maybe she gets some kind of payoff from toying with emotionally fragile young men; with Norah in the way, the game would be over. Whatever the reason, Tris feels threatened by Norah, and she spends the rest of the film trying to get Nick back. br / br /It isn't until Caroline gets drunk that the night gets interesting. Nick's gay best friends and band mates--Thom (Aaron Yoo), Dev (Rafi Gavron), and Gary (Zachary Booth)--offer to drive Caroline home so that Nick and Norah have the chance to get to know one another (they're not the biggest fans of Tris). Unfortunately, Caroline escapes from the van. With a drunken girl on the loose, a popular band within reach, and a vindictive ex-girlfriend scheming her schemes, both Nick and Norah have a full night on their hands. br / br /The film falters in two key areas. One relates to Caroline, who stumbles through New York while leaving behind puddles of vomit as markers. There's a moment when she's in the bathroom of a bus station; after she graphically empties her stomach into the toilet, she drops her cell phone into it. She then reaches in and retrieves it. Immediately afterwards, the gum she had been chewing flies out of her mouth and into the toilet, and yes, she retrieves that too. Then she puts the gum back into her mouth. Was this scene really necessary? Did the camera have to linger on something so disgusting for such a long period of time? The audience I was with audibly laughed during this scene. They did not, however, laugh during a scene much later in the film, when Caroline swaps the gum with Norah (who later swaps it with Nick). Was I the only one who remembered that that gum fell into a vomit-filled toilet? br / br /The other misstep of "Nick Norah's Infinite Playlist" relates to the relationship between Norah and an aspiring singer named Tal (Jay Baruchel). Apparently, Tal is Norah's on again/off again boyfriend, and she has a nasty habit of calling him every forty-five minutes. Part of this has to do with Norah's insecurity; she was never the most popular girl in school, so she was virtually ignored by the boys. She then found a guy willing to give her some attention. Of course, he's only doing it because he wants her father, a rich music producer, to listen to his demo CD. What I didn't understand was why she didn't catch onto this much sooner. Norah, to put it bluntly, isn't dumb. You know this is true by the way she responds to Nick, a sensitive musician with great taste in music. It seemed a little unrealistic that she would let herself be used that way. Had this been corrected, "Nick Norah's Infinite Playlist" would have been a much better movie. As it stands, it's a good but disappointing effort.
 LOST IN TRANSLATION for the younger crowd... October 4, 2008
Adam (SC)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Every now and then, I see a film that makes me feel so good that I just can't stop thinking about it for weeks. I just saw NICK AND NORAH tonight, and I have to say, it's about to join that list of memorable films. br / br /First off, there is no plot. The pacing is slow. Think DAZED AND CONFUSED crossed with LOST IN TRANSLATION, and there you have it. That's not a bad thing at all. I prefer the "go with the flow" narrative style. It fits the film perfectly. br / br /Also, the acting from the entire cast is amazing. You could say that Michael Cera is simply playing the same role here that he played in JUNO and SUPERBAD. You'd be wrong. He's excellent in the title role, as is Kat Denning's, who plays Nora. The performances are so genuine that you feel as if you're not watching a film half the time. br / br /The soundtrack is amazing as well. I am buying the CD. br / br /All in all, I loved this film and I highly recommend it. See it as soon as possible, and you will not regret it!
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