In the latest sign the iPod generation is exerting its influence over the rest of us old fogies comes "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," a new era of romantic comedy in which the main characters look nothing like Richard Gere and Jennifer Aniston. This is a good thing, since I'm still not convinced we need more sappy love stories involving either an aging male star who could do a romantic comedy in his sleep or a woman best known for her hairstyle on popular 1990s sitcom.
"Nick and Norah" takes the familiar romantic comedy situation — a jilted male with a broken heart who meets the less physically attractive but more down-to-earth friend of his cheating girlfriend and connects with her way more than he ever did with his girlfriend — and puts it in an urban, teenage, punk rock landscape instead of the usual picturesque, New England countryside setting we were raised on.
Throw in a soundtrack ("Playlist" in the title refers to a grouping of music on an mp3 player) featuring a slew of sensitive, quirky bands featuring bands with black-rimmed glasses playing on an iPod, and you've got a new genre: rmtc cmdy. That's textspeak for romantic comedy, old timer.
"Nick and Norah" is either a date movie for those who know how to send a text message or one to see with six of your sophomore-year BFFs.
Michael Cera ("Juno," "Superbad"), is Nick, a jilted high school musician who is having issues with his girlfriend Tris (Alexis Dziena) dumping him a month ago. He just finished up his mix CD masterpiece, "Road to Closure Vol. 12," a compilation Tris immediately dumps in the trash for the desperate piece of memorabilia it is, as she's clearly moved on to a more studly college guy.
Norah (Ket Dennings, "The House Bunny") is an acquaintance of Tris who, after picking up seven of Nick's mix CDs from the trash, has discovered Nick to be her musical soulmate. When she plants one on the socially awkward bassist at a rock show to show up the cruel Tris, the two title characters embark upon a night of looking for a lost drunk girl, eluding creepy homeless guys outside a church, a Cabaret-style show featuring crossdressers and a search for their favorite band, "Where's Fluffy?"
Aimed straight at the high school crowd, "Nick and Norah" is good enough for what it is, although it could have been much better. Teenage girls will relate to a story where common interests and compatibility ultimately win out over physical attraction, which of course is the basis for most high school relationships. Teenage boys dragged to the movie by their dates should rejoice in the fact that today's leading man need not be the cool, calm and collected Hollywood star of my days. When I was dragged by my date (OK, if I had a date) to romantic comedies back in the day, I would have had to live up to the likes of Mr. GQs like Gere, Kevin Costner or at least John Cusack. Not an easy task for a lanky, socially awkward high school boy to nail down, let me tell you.
Nowhere near as witty and randomly sassy as "Juno," the movie often falls into the same pitfalls that tend to drag down most "older" romantic comedies: lame plot, uninspired dialogue and overly cheesy sentiments of blind love.
And while Cera might be easier for today's teen boys to emulate, it doesn't mean he makes for a more intriguing male lead, unfortunately. For lack of a better term, he's kind of a "wussy" kind of guy, which I guess works for the girls who want their guys on the feminine, uber sensitive and non-jocky side, of which there must be some these days. Those kind of girls never went to my high school, however.
In the end, the target audience for "Nick and Norah" will say the movie is "sweet," "cute" and "touching," all of which I'm sure will be fine with the filmmakers.
Things could definitely be worse. We could all be subjected to "Another Runaway Bride."
Joel Sensenig is news editor of the Review Times. He's also president of the "Why Couldn't They Make Slightly Geeky Guys Like Me Get the Girl in Romantic Comedies When I Was a Teen?" Club.