Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Blu Ray Review

Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is a film from an up and coming director starring up and coming young comedy stars. Peter Sollett puts in a credible stint directing Michael Cera and Kat Dennings in a rambling journey of discovery of two young teens across Manhattan in search of a secret gig.

Nick (Cera) is as mixed up as the next teenager. The fact that he’s recently been unceremoniously dumped just adds to his angst. In a bid to win back the woman he thinks he loves Nick composes a series of ‘mix CDs’ trying to convey his feelings. What Nick doesn’t realize is that his ex is such a callous b*?&h that she’s been binning the CDs.

Norah, another insecure teen has been retrieving said CDs and has marveled at their composure, whilst totally ignorant of the identity of the creator. The scene is therefore set for this little lot to come together in freakish coincidence. The place in question is at a gig for his high school band the Jerk-Offs. The rest of the band convince Nick to stop wallowing in self pity at his parents’ house and go play the gig. He does have an ulterior motive though, his favorite band ‘Where’s Fluffy’ (don’t know which is worse, the Jerk-Offs or Where’s Fluffy!) are playing a secret gig somewhere in Manhattan and Nick intends to find out where.

At his own gig Nick sees his ex, Tris, in the crowd with another guy and at the same time Norah is in the crowd with her eye on Nick. Norah, not knowing that Nick is Tris’s ex-boyfriend, asks him to be her boyfriend for five minutes to prove to Tris that she’s dating someone. When Norah kisses Nick Tris gets jealous. Norah’s friend Caroline then appears hideously drunk and needs taking home. Nick’s band mates offer, as they saw the kiss between Nick and Norah and think it might be healthy for Nick to spend some time with her. Nick and Norah then leave to find the elusive Where’s Fluffy gig while Nick’s friends manage to loose the paralytic Caroline. The rest of the film chronicles Nick and Norah’s quests across Manhattan to find the gig and also find Caroline. Whilst looking for these things will they also find love?

If you’re after a plot driven story that’ll keep you on the edge of your seat then look elsewhere. What we have here can be described with words such as ‘sweet’ and ‘nice’. It’s a romantic comedy for the youth of today. The plot ambles about a bit at times, but this film isn’t about the plot, it’s about the characters, it really doesn’t matter what the journey is, just that it happens and over the course of it they find each other after having both had bad relationship experiences.

Peter Sollett seems to have raided Judd Apatow’s gang of actors for the main roles here. Both Cena and Dennings put in subtle but endearing performances. There aren’t any onscreen fireworks between the two, but they manage to convey a connection that grows between them over the course of the night. In terms of a romantic comedy the onus is more on the romance than the comedy, but it does have its moments.

The picture on this 1080p Blu Ray is pretty good, if not reference standard. Detail is pretty strong throughout, whilst there is a bit of inconsistent grain. Blacks and contrast are pretty solid, which is good for a film shot entirely at night and the colour pallet, while a little limited, conveys a New York neon night quite well. For the sound we get a very nice Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. This is a character driven film, not action driven, so dialogue presentation is all important and there are no problems here. The rears don’t get too much of a workout, but do convey the crowd noise of New York at night. This is a film that, other than the characters, is dominated by music and some excellent indie tracks appear throughout the film and sound pretty damn good.

We get a nice selection of extras on the UK Blu Ray as well. There’s an interesting commentary where the main protagonists (director and star actors) draw over the screen with marker pens to highlight what they’re saying. I found it quite interesting for about the first ten or fifteen minutes, but it got a bit annoying after that. Other than that there’s an interactive playlist that pops up little facts about the film now and again. There’s a 5 minute puppet version of the film voiced by Kat Dennings which is a bit weird, but all in good fun. There’s a short behind the scenes video diary which is probably worth a look and the usual deleted scenes footage.

All in all if you’re in a mellow mood and want a slow paced, character driven story about two lonely souls that find each other then you could do much worse than to put this in your Blu Ray player.

Film:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Overall: