Toronto. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist "isn't quite the assault to the teen romance genre that Juno was, and that's both good and bad," writes Karina Longworth at the SpoutBlog.

"Michael Cera's Nick, Kat Dennings's Norah, and their assorted pals drift fluidly between irony-as-defense and taking both themselves, and the idea of love, very seriously. The result is a film that's much more of a traditional teen romance, but also a more honest one."

"Although technically just another studio movie making the obligatory festival rounds before its theatrical release in October, the movie has roots in the independent film community, being the sophomore effort of director Peter Sollett, whose debut feature, Raising Victor Vargas, became a major indie success story just a few years ago," writes Eric Kohn at the Jaman Blog. "It's the sort of movie that proves a young, ambitious filmmaker doesn't have to compromise his creative integrity once faced with commercial pressures; instead, he grooves with them at his own pace."

"[T]here are logic holes in it, and lulls, and moments that seem devoid of sense, to be sure, but there are also moments in where Cera or Dennings will smile and your momentary doubts and disagreements are washed away and your head is filled with a sense of gladness, not despair, that you're watching our young, happy hipster heroes on screen," writes James Rocchi at Cinematical. "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist combines the shaggy-dog sprawl of an early John Hughes film with the blunt talk and softly-rounded feelings of the Apatow comedies, and if it did not have leads as charismatic and tonally correct as Cera and Dennings, it would be very close to dead in the water; however, since it does, it isn't."

"Nick and Norah has a good soundtrack, naturally, but its failure to supply much in the way of unexpected incident or witty conversation makes it a huge missed opportunity, and a real disappointment," finds Noel Murray at the AV Club.

Kenneth R Morefield at Looking Closer: "I'm suspicious of any person or film that tries this desperately to tell me that: a) they are having a good time; b) they are in love; or c) really, really liking the same band is a better foundation for a relationship than actually knowing the other person."

Robert Abele talks with Cera and Dennings for the Los Angeles Times.

Update, 9/15: At the SpoutBlog, Kevin Kelly talks with Cera.

Update, 9/18: At the SpoutBlog, Kevin Kelly talks with Sollett.

Posted by dwhudson at September 9, 2008 2:01 PM