NICK AND NORAH’S INFINATE PLAYLIST

When I stumbled across this bizarrely named little gem, I honestly had no expectations for it what so ever. An hour and a half later, I stood corrected. It was (is, in fact) possibly the sweetest film I have ever watched…
And let me add straight away that I am not a great fan of calling films sweet. The problem is that there is no other way to describe it. The characters are all wonderful, believable, funny, faulty and very easy to sympathize with. The storyline is not that new and contains some clichés but funnily enough none of it is cheesy. I mean, even the “gay best friends” (who seemed to be an obligatory accessory for many films in the 90’s) have a fresh, fun take on them that make them real (by the way, one of the said gay friends in question is played by Aaron Yoo, who it turns out I have seen in a number of other films one of which was The Wackness I picked last week! Seen and admired I should have said incidentally, I greatly enjoyed his performance here as well) In short, it is very much like a real love story, and leaves you feeling all fuzzy and glittery inside… Yes yes, you DO know what I mean, don’t deny it.
Now the story: High-school student Nick (Michael Cera – star of the Oscar winning film Juno) has a problem. He can’t get over his ex – Tris. To be fair, Tris was a man-eater who cheated on him and dumped him but such is life. He is a musician and is in a band, and his depression has even started to affect the band. He tries to reconnect with Tris by making mixed music cds for her, but Tris just laughs and discards them. But they do not go to the trash, oh no. They are adopted by her “friend” Norah (Kat Dennings), whose respect for Nick and his taste in music are growing daily – even though they have never met. Norah, by the way has an affliction: a famous father. It makes her suffer greatly, but she just does her best to live a normal life and in the mean time tries to keep her party-animal friend Caroline from getting wasted. Again.
One night, a completely random encounter after Nick’s band’s gig will transform what could be a completely random evening out into a crazy adventure. And will transform Nick and Norah’s lives forever…