StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Chase_Witherspoon It's shamelessly clichéd, and yet the headline couple make such an awkward and adorable pair that they compel you to watch til the end. Both Cena and Dennings are very likable in their own inimitable styles, Cena his usual gawky yet awkwardly smug self, Dennings also typical in her independent, sharp-witted disguise that conceals a softer centre. Their midnight antics as they try to locate a missing mutual friend, and the oddballs they encounter is a great night out, something perhaps to which a lot of viewers could relate.Maybe a little uneven at times, there's a very awkward scene towards the end that seems superfluous and it surprises me that it made the final cut as it really had no bearing on the outcome. Not to labour the point, I just felt it was insignificant in the context of the plot and seemed disjointed and out of place.One of those films where the chase makes the movie entertaining, but the destination is not as gratifying. Solid effort despite the rather cryptic and clumsy title.

Python Hyena Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008): Dir: Peter Sollett / Cast: Michael Cera, Kat Dennings, Alexis Dziena, Ari Graynor, Aaron Yoo: Teen comedy about relationships that play out within one long evening. Michael Cera and his band scope the town in search of a band named Fluffy. He is dealing with a recent breakup. Kat Dennings plays Norah whose best friend gets drunk and goes missing. She and Nick hook up in search of her. Simple plot is basically a series of adventures of high school seniors in the late hours that includes no adult supervision. Directed by Peter Sollett who previously made the independent film Raising Victor Vargas. Here he is given great locations along with a screenplay that isn't so great. Cera and Dennings are capable young actors reduced to running from scene to scene with facial expressions that do not convince us that they are having a good career moment. Alexis Driena plays Cera's snotty ex-girlfriend who suddenly shows interest when someone else begins paying attention to him. Ari Graynor plays Nora's misplaced drunk friend who wanders aimlessly about before hanging her head in a toilet. We are even treated to a moment where she fishes her gum out of the toilet and puts it in her mouth. Perhaps it was her reaction to the news that the Academy Awards wouldn't be honoring her for this. Standard teen comedy that will likely be on nobody's playlist. Score: 3 / 10

Diana Rosalind Trimble How can you make a movie with a title like Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, with a "meet cute" plot-line sparked by painstakingly decorated, home-made, lovelorn mix CDS being collected by a different girl than they were meant for and then...not have a single memorable tune in the soundtrack? Boy, the music director on this film really missed a great opportunity there. Nick's Cure ring-tone, all five seconds of it, was the catchiest hook in the entire film.Check out the track listing on the soundtrack if you don't believe me. There was no scene in which music was well-matched with the mood so as to build emotions, and no great songs chosen, so all you ever hear, in cars, in clubs, is just a few blasts of innocuous music here and there. But nothing memorable. I blame the writers as well as the music director for not having created a believable underground music scene or scene-goers at all.Another scene that demonstrated writers' Cohn & Levithan's ignorance of what it is to love music or be a musician was the totally absurd scene in the recording studio! Firstly, we'll just overlook the fact that the owner of Electric Lady (or any other pro recording studio) is not going to let his teenage daughter bring people over there on random social visits when the studio's not in use at night (and why isn't in use BTW?), and we'll even be so kind as to further overlook how rather unlikely it is that the daughter of a studio boss would necessarily have recording engineering skills herself, in fact we will even be extra-generous and overlook the impossibility of Nick dating someone who had a friend whose Dad owned Electric Lady without said item of teen gossip ever having reached his ears; yes, we'll swallow all that and just skip straight to the scene where she offers to record something, even letting him play a priceless Strat that is just lying around(?). OK, so swallowing all that too; there they are, all set up, got sound in the cans, guitar is plugged in, all Mic-ed up. Yeah! Maybe we are finally going to get to hear an actual song maybe? Nope, denied! For inexplicably, mere seconds after hitting record, Norah suddenly decides this is the ideal moment to leave the control booth, go in the live room, discuss Judaism briefly, and then get down on the sofa. Leaving tape rolling. Oh yeah, with the live Mic right next to the sofa. I have rarely seen a more improbably twisted set-up for a lame comedic moment (moment being camera panning from them making out on couch to the peak meters going red in the control room).Can I tell you why this scene stank to high heaven for anyone involved in music? Well, I am a singer-songwriter myself, and no matter how much I liked a guy, if he's invited me to an after-hours recording session at one of the best studios in the world, and we've set things up and I'm just about to play my song, I am going to be super annoyed if he suddenly emerges from the control room and starts getting talkie then sexual, at the top of my first take! What? Ridiculous!Any musician is gonna be (yeah even a guy would be) taken aback and say: "Um, excuse me, aren't we rolling tape? What are you doing out here? Is something wrong?" It is not romantic for her to join him in the live room just then, but doesn't make any sense at all! In no way is it credible that any musician, including Nick, would just take it in stride and similarly have amnesia about the fact he was supposed to be recording something. I kept waiting for him to say: "Um, do you mind if we lay down the track before we, uh, lay down ourselves? Or at least stop recording?" Then it might actually have been not only a funny scene, but closer to the way people respond to situations in real-ish life. (That cheezy pun, by the way, is a hilarious gem of wit compared to the jokes in the script.)The only good thing about this film was the giddy performance of Ari Graynor as Caroline. The whole movie should have been about her drunken night of misadventures!

rob_lavender A couple meets under unusual circumstances on a night in New York, and embark upon a journey which changes the both of them for ever. It's a sweet enough story, but what lifts it from good to great is the cast.Stunning and sassy Kat Dennings and the instantly likable Michael Cera are down-to-earth enough to feel like regular, real people - an important trait in lead roles, given how invested in them we need to become - while the supporting cast is rife with delightfully over-the-top characters who offer some wonderful comedic moments.The plot centres on the duo's twin missions: to track down an elusive indie band's secret gig, and to relocate a drunk, missing friend. But the real journey is one of discovery - for Cera's character, to see how wrong his on-again off-again girlfriend is for him, and Dennings', to learn how to overcome her own feelings of inadequacy.These realisations come subtly in an understated manner which is nicely at odds to some of the overtly comical people they meet along the way (Andy Samberg in a very minor role instantly springs to mind - along with all manner of drag queens, bitter exes, profane musicians and a "Drunkzilla"). Against this backdrop, our heroes seem all the more relatable.There are moments of hilarity, and of real pathos; things we all recognise from our own youthful misadventures, and ones we know from our relationships. It's all played out by a well-capable cast, and boasts a top-notch soundtrack.This is indie at its finest.