The most original thing about Peter Sollett’s film about teenage angst is its title, taken from Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s novel of the same name. But at least this gentle answer to Juno and possibly Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise is decently written.
Nick and Norah are two New Jersey high-school students who plunge into an on-off romance that an American critic justly called a romantic comedy for the iPod generation. Both director and cast strive hard to capture what it is like to be young without delving into the usual bucketful of teen clichés. But in the end their efforts come to nothing much, which is probably what these characters’ lives will amount to anyway.
Michael Cera plays Nick, as roughly the same earnest nice guy as he portrayed in Juno. He is pining for his ex-squeeze (Alexis Dziena), for whom life is not much more than a smart game, until he finds Norah (Kat Dennings) at a pop concert. Meanwhile, everyone is trying to find and help a drunken friend who has gone missing.
The action takes place on a single night in Manhattan and progresses a little too smoothly to its conclusion, which is that love more or less conquers all. Sollett views his characters with a kind of affectionate detachment and so do we. It’s not a bad film; just not quite good enough to take hold.
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
Cert: 12A
