NICK AND NORAHS INFINITE PLAYLIST

SONY

RELEASED 30 January 2009

The latest American teen comedy (how come Britain doesn’t seem able to ‘do’ this genre properly?) features ‘Juno’/‘Superbad’ star Michael Cera and Kat Dennings as the eponymous Nick and Norah. Nick makes home compilation CDs for his ex Tris (Alexis Dziena) to try and win her back. Tris always bins them without even listening to them, but the hand-drawn artwork and cool indie music on them appeals to her friend Norah and she hides her secret crush. When bass player Nick and his gay bandmates hear about a top-secret show somewhere in the city by hot band ‘Where’s Fluffy?’, they spend the rest of the night driving around New York following the clues, also helping Norah find her lost, extremely drunken friend Caroline (Ari Graynor). Before it gets light, Nick and Norah fall in ‘luurve’ (awwwww).

You could write down how the film will end after watching the first ten minutes, but that’s usually the case with romantic comedies - you don’t mess with the genre rules! The delight in a good rom-com are the laughs and how much you invest in the destined couple-to-be. ‘N&N’ has quite a few laughs, many of which involve a drunken Caroline doing only the things a drunk person would ever not think about doing, and Nick driving his sunshine yellow Yugo (think the crappiest little car you’ve ever seen) around town as people constantly hail him thinking it’s a taxi. Michael Cera and Kat Dennings make a great couple, and although the film does seem to take a very leisurely approach to it’s eventual outcome, the time is filled with great songs, neon-lit New York scenery, and a general air of refreshing, youthful ‘joie de vivre’. If you recollect one of the best, drink-related nights from your youth that seemed to be full of incident and laughs, then that’s what ‘N&N’ is like.

THREE OUT OF FIVE