Review: Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2/5)

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
(Peter Sollett)
Michael Cera, Kat Dennings,
Alexis Dziena.
Running time: 90 minutes. (15A)


If Juno didn’t exist, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist would have had to invent it. Peter Sollett’s wistful indie romance has been manufactured to appeal directly to the Converse-gazing emo teens left tingling in Juno’s wake. But it has none of Juno’s wit, style or broad appeal. At best, it’s a bustling soundtrack in search of a movie.
Juno star Michael Cera, that quiet-spoken teenage-anxiety skeleton, plays Nick. He takes a “mental health day” off school and makes music compilations with titles such as ‘Road to Closure, Vol 12’. Alas, he has just been dumped by spoilt brat Tris (Alexis Dziena). After a concert with his band the Jerk-Offs, he is thrown accidentally into the arms of teen vamp Norah (Kat Dennings), and crazy ex-girlfriend decides she wants him back. The film goes to a lot of bother pretending that getting musical soulmates Nick and Norah together is going to require a lot of work. Not a bit of it. The plot, as boney as Cera’s left elbow, whisks them around Manhattan nightspots and touches briefly on something genuine: that cloudy nexus where Nick learns to untangle love (Norah) and lust (Tris). In one scene, Nick makes up his mind to ditch the sexy ex by window-wiping away a lipstick kiss she left on his windscreen. It’s a cute visual shorthand but the film offers little that is cinematic. Both Cera and Dennings have plenty to offer as actors, but they’re not a romantic fit. A film you should listen to on your iPod.