Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist (Sollett, 2008) — Michael Cera in romance-comedy

[The Bus]

IMDB | Trailer | 3 October 2008

This looks pretty interesting. See link above for the trailer.

Apparently the novel has a lot of fans.

[fumanstan]

I've seen the trailer for this a few times in theaters. It looks like it could be fun and I like Kat Dennings and think Aaron Yoo is funny from Disturbia and 21. Too bad I don't care for Michael Cera at all.

[The Bus]

Well, you'll be seeing him play a high school student for the next ten years, so get used to him.

[fumanstan]

Originally Posted by The Bus

Well, you'll be seeing him play a high school student for the next ten years, so get used to him.

Oh I know, the same awkward kid that he plays in every movie ever since Arrested Development. And of course, DVDTalk goers will gush just because of that like they do with anyone related to AD

Still, I usually dig movies like this so I'm sure i'll see it.

[KillerCannibal]

Wow, big surprise that they're marketing this heavily to the Juno crowd. It reeks of "pre-packaged indie flick waiting for it's cred". Pass.

[starman9000]

Looks OK, I'll check it out. It'll be great to watch all the dvdtalkers flip out about this like they did for Juno. (ala KC above ^)

[droidguy1119]

I like how Cera appears to be bringing his own sweater-jacket wardrobe to these movies or something, just to tack on yet another sign that he's playing the same role in everything.

If the movie didn't have the car gags I think I might have been halfway onboard. But when you throw in that stupid car the movie slides all the way back into hipster quirkfest (it's yellow, too. Gee, I haven't seen a poorly functioning yellow vehicle in any Oscar-nominated movies lately...). Also, no points to the trailer people for "This is Nick. He's a sensitive musician."

Kat Dennings looks to be the brightest spot in the movie, but then the script lets her down with painfully fakey teen girl dialogue like "You have to PROMISE me not to get drunk tonight" and "If you hurt one hair on her head, I will kill all of you!"

[RyoHazuki]

I never though I'd come to hate Michael Cera's akward teen schtick but I'm getting damn close.

[Draven]

Looks great to me - I'd watch Cera in anything.

[Bluelitespecial]

I am actually really looking forward to this, it looks like it will be fun.

[NoirFan]

Do the people responsible for these kind of viral marketing stunts actually come back later and clean up their messes?

[PopcornTreeCt]

Originally Posted by RyoHazuki

I never though I'd come to hate Michael Cera's akward teen schtick but I'm getting damn close.

Yeah, I'm kinda the same way. I really liked him in Arrested Development and Superbad. Not so much in Juno and from the trailers not so much in this film either. Think I'll wait for the DVD.

[NoirFan]

Variety is lukewarm, though "Production values are tops"!

[modfather]

Do you all think he might stutter, stammer, and be uncomfortable and sensitive and junk? If so, I'm THERE! Whatta dreamboat!

[/sarcasm]

Pass...

[majorjoe23]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

Do the people responsible for these kind of viral marketing stunts actually come back later and clean up their messes?

Is it spray paint or chalk? In my experience it's usually the latter, and even a light rain will take care of it.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by majorjoe23

Is it spray paint or chalk? In my experience it's usually the latter, and even a light rain will take care of it.

Or a steady stream of urine, which is what this kind of crass ploy deserves.

[Nicholas Vargo]

Bumping up the thread to note that my old friend David from Pittsburgh, PA saw the film the other night and he wrote his review. With his permission, I reprint that review here. Read on below to find out all the details:

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist- ****
Directed by Peter Sollett
September 12, 2008

Some movies just stay on the screen when they are through, but "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" transcends that norm as its radiant truth and naturalistic approach cuts deep through our toughest layer of skin that isn't penetrated very easily. The characters jump off the screen and suggest we hug them. They don't have to ask twice. The outcome hasn't been demonstrated since "Almost Famous" captivated our emotions in 2000. Each film has similar main characters associating themselves with music. Each boy is normal in his appearance but are thrown into a world where rock-stars and rich men would kill for. It's with these characters that each film bases their whole premise around; simple and loveable. You can't teach that in acting school.

There comes a time when a movie achieves intimacy with its audience, and hence, that is how it acquires greatness. First time director Peter Sollett - adapting from a Cohn and Levithan novel - creates magic. He manages to establish a strong enough bond (strongest since "Brokeback Mountain") that allows us to realize what we are watching is not only comedy done to perfection but it can also double as high end drama; almost like a monk who reaches his highest pinnacle during his religious learning's. When comedy can do this, it is hard to beat.

Blatantly breaking away from the infectious raunchy humor which we came to call 'comedy,' comes something out of defiance towards that; a movie that was made from the purest of heart with mounting intentions to create peace and harmony amongst every character. "Nick and Nora" desperately disregards any traits involving vulgar sex, terrible language and did I mention sex? What Sollett forays into is a movie world where sex isn't on everyone's mind. The lone thing that is on everyone's mind is making the other person smile.

A cast of actors led my Michael Cera and Kat Dennings aren't viewed in this movie as the typical Hollywood actors. Instead they are cultivated by the trueness of such a story. They miraculously adapt so well to the landscape around them that they loose their Hollywood image. Manhattan's night life is infested with teenagers looking for love and a good time, and twenty-year-olds looking for a big opportunity, career wise, to come their way. This Manhattan embodies the actors and shapes them to conceive the familiar faces we see when we go for a night on the town. Cera or Dennings have never been better. There gift is playing normal people in a world of wannabes.

Every character is in search of ecstasy, or even trying to forget previous ecstasies they once conquered. Cera's Nick is trying to get over a relationship with Tris (Alexis Dziena), a gorgeous girl who seems to be totally out of Nick's league. Mix tapes are what he tries to win her back with. Good luck with that. She's so cold that she tosses them in a waste basket, only to be found by her best friend/rival (a trait that all high school girls channel) Nora (Dennings), who has a knack for the same music Nick loves. Dennings turns in subtle work here as a girl who has been used all her life due to her father's success. So much so, that when someone loves her for who she really is, she can't understand it.

What follows is a single night with Tris, along with her new boyfriend (a robot male model), Nora and their alcohol loving friend Caroline who cross paths with Nick and his two gay friends. They meet at the boy's concert taking place in a shabby club. What unfolds is as real as you're going to get. Random love flings, trying to find missing friends, searching for the venue where the best band in town is playing and love affairs that will be fixed, broken or ignited new, each are highlighted against a soundtrack that captures the mood of a night that will shape all of its characters forever.

An infinite Playlist can be found on almost every one's ipod. It consists of songs that people can listen to without ever having to hit the skip button. Very hard to create though. Surprisingly, Sollett - his camera tricks are only slow motion shots and flashbacks each are devastating - and his actors achieve that with this movie, and I haven't been a product of it for quite sometime. I didn't want this to end. There isn't a wrong scene, nor does the movie provide anything extra, it just flows continuously like water down a stream.

--David DiMichele

[Seantn]

Originally Posted by Nicholas Vargo

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist- ****

Some movies just stay on the screen when they are through, but "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" transcends that norm as its radiant truth and naturalistic approach cuts deep through our toughest layer of skin that isn't penetrated very easily. The characters jump off the screen and suggest we hug them. They don't have to ask twice. The outcome hasn't been demonstrated since "Almost Famous" captivated our emotions in 2000. Each film has similar main characters associating themselves with music. Each boy is normal in his appearance but are thrown into a world where rock-stars and rich men would kill for. It's with these characters that each film bases their whole premise around; simple and loveable. You can't teach that in acting school.

There comes a time when a movie achieves intimacy with its audience, and hence, that is how it acquires greatness. First time director Peter Sollett - adapting from a Cohn and Levithan novel - creates magic. He manages to establish a strong enough bond (strongest since "Brokeback Mountain") that allows us to realize what we are watching is not only comedy done to perfection but it can also double as high end drama; almost like a monk who reaches his highest pinnacle during his religious learning's. When comedy can do this, it is hard to beat.

Blatantly breaking away from the infectious raunchy humor which we came to call 'comedy,' comes something out of defiance towards that; a movie that was made from the purest of heart with mounting intentions to create peace and harmony amongst every character. "Nick and Nora" desperately disregards any traits involving vulgar sex, terrible language and did I mention sex? What Sollett forays into is a movie world where sex isn't on everyone's mind. The lone thing that is on everyone's mind is making the other person smile.

A cast of actors led my Michael Cera and Kat Dennings aren't viewed in this movie as the typical Hollywood actors. Instead they are cultivated by the trueness of such a story. They miraculously adapt so well to the landscape around them that they loose their Hollywood image. Manhattan's night life is infested with teenagers looking for love and a good time, and twenty-year-olds looking for a big opportunity, career wise, to come their way. This Manhattan embodies the actors and shapes them to conceive the familiar faces we see when we go for a night on the town. Cera or Dennings have never been better. There gift is playing normal people in a world of wannabes.

Every character is in search of ecstasy, or even trying to forget previous ecstasies they once conquered. Cera's Nick is trying to get over a relationship with Tris (Alexis Dziena), a gorgeous girl who seems to be totally out of Nick's league. Mix tapes are what he tries to win her back with. Good luck with that. She's so cold that she tosses them in a waste basket, only to be found by her best friend/rival (a trait that all high school girls channel) Nora (Dennings), who has a knack for the same music Nick loves. Dennings turns in subtle work here as a girl who has been used all her life due to her father's success. So much so, that when someone loves her for who she really is, she can't understand it.

What follows is a single night with Tris, along with her new boyfriend (a robot male model), Nora and their alcohol loving friend Caroline who cross paths with Nick and his two gay friends. They meet at the boy's concert taking place in a shabby club. What unfolds is as real as you're going to get. Random love flings, trying to find missing friends, searching for the venue where the best band in town is playing and love affairs that will be fixed, broken or ignited new, each are highlighted against a soundtrack that captures the mood of a night that will shape all of its characters forever.

An infinite Playlist can be found on almost every one's ipod. It consists of songs that people can listen to without ever having to hit the skip button. Very hard to create though. Surprisingly, Sollett - his camera tricks are only slow motion shots and flashbacks each are devastating - and his actors achieve that with this movie, and I haven't been a product of it for quite sometime. I didn't want this to end. There isn't a wrong scene, nor does the movie provide anything extra, it just flows continuously like water down a stream.

--David DiMichele

Is this review meant as a parody? It reads like one.

[PopcornTreeCt]

Did he just compare this to Almost Famous?

[The Bus]

You guys can make fun of the movie and Michael Cera but like I mentioned originally, the novel has a lot of fans. I know a group of people who are excited about this because the book was so good.

[The Bus]

Originally Posted by droidguy1119

(it's yellow, too. Gee, I haven't seen a poorly functioning yellow vehicle in any Oscar-nominated movies lately...)

Careful that you don't sprain yourself while reaching so far.

---

Also, I don't mean to sound like I'm defending the movie, I just don't think it looks like crap.

[Bluelitespecial]

I love this movie's poster just because Michael Cera is looking down at Kat Dennings awesome rack.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by Seantn

Is this review meant as a parody? It reads like one.

It's very emotional.

[lordwow]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

It's very emotional.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by Bluelitespecial

I love this movies poster just because Michael Cera is looking down at Kat Dennings awesome rack.

Yeah, she was very....memorable in a small role in The 40-Year Old Virgin.