The Movie Nut

Nick (Michael Cera) is the only hetero member of an otherwise gay indie rock band making the Manhattan circuit, and he's just been dumped by Tris (Alexis Dziena), his love of several months. He's pining for her in that pathetic, yet laughable, male-in-purgatory sort of way.

His band is playing a local club gig, but Nick's too bummed to care. Bandmates Thom and Dev (Aaron Yoo, Rafi Gavron) persuade him to play, but when Tris shows up with her new boyfriend, Nick seems ready to crash and burn.

If you can get past Michael Cera as a Manhattan-carousing, gay-friendly hip indie rocker wannabe (a Sioux City hardware store clerk maybe, but the Big Apple?), "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" becomes a sweet, nicely balanced character-driven tale of two loners finding a flicker of love at almost the right time.

In terms of plot development—well, did I mention this is a character-driven flick? One gets the impression that director Peter Sollett figured a catchy indie soundtrack (The Submarines, Chris Bell, Vampire Weekend, The Dead 60s) and some clever dialogue among nice but wounded people would hold our attention—and for the most part he's right. Spend a night with Nick and Norah (albeit, no Asta) and Norah's alarmingly drunk friend Caroline (Ari Graynor) for the sheer fun of wanting to hang with these oddly endearing party animals.

"Nick and Norah" hasn't the bitter undercurrent of reality that "Juno" has (and you know those comparisons will be forthcoming) nor the hard-edged bite of, say, Zach Braff's "Garden State" or "A Lot Like Love" (films about young and damaged loners). But many films of late have a hard-tinged, nail-biting reality built in, so for "Nick and Norah" to slip us a sugar pill right about now isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Back at the turn of the century, John Cusack made a splendid ambient-rock film called "HighFidelity." Both films resonate in various, similar ways. "Nick and Norah's" Nick, like "Hi-Fi's" Rob Gordon, makes heartfelt music compilations to express his emotions. This isn't a film about musicians, nor even about music—it's a film about people who love music and who perhaps love love a little bit more.

For the record, I doubt hardcore indie fans will be completely satisfied with "Nick and Norah"; the music is a backdrop, after all, not an encyclopedia of the N.Y. rock scene. The sound track rarely treads on the characters but does nicely set both mood and pace for the lovelorn Nick.

Who is, by the way, still on stage and pining for Tris. Yet by sheer chance (an element not particularly new to the romantic comedy), Nick becomes captivated by Norah, who needs a "pretend boyfriend" for a moment and begs for a kiss. Which takes place, of course, in front of Tris.

Such a fairy-tale encounter dictates the night that follows. Think "Who's That Girl" without Madonna or the cougar or the silly sight gags. (Okay, don't think of that flick at all, but rather about two people finding each other during one improbable, sleepless night in the Big Apple.)

If you can get past Kat Dennings' performance, because she's too pretty, hip and intelligent to really play the part of novelist Rachel Cohn's waifwith-a-secret Norah, then the stage is set. And once into the thick of things, Nick and Norah generate some nice chemistry.

Co-stars Aaron Yoo and Ari Graynor make being gay, young and talented the epitome of what everyone is striving for (and good for them), while the heteros among us flail and wail and hopelessly dream about finding happiness. Then again, kudos to Cera for perpetuating one of filmdom's best breakup moments ever. It's classic.

And when the crack of dawn appears over the Manhattan skyline, rest assured that Nick and Norah might just prevail, as assuredly will the film's soundtrack, coming soon to a music store near you.