I scored big time yesterday when my film student boyfriend nabbed us a pair of pre-screening tickets to Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Even better, the tickets came with a Q & A session with Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. There are few things I love more in this world than music, shy boys, Rachel Cohn books, and one night adventures (a la Can’t Hardly Wait). Needless to say I was stoked.
I got to the theater two hours early, the line was filled with hipsters, but the vibe was overall pretty good. When I finally sat down, a DJ spun some long forgotten, yet underrated tunes to get us excited. Fifteen minutes of Oasis, 311, Franz Ferdinand, and White Stripes later: the movie began.
Ten minutes into it, and I was already obsessed with Nick and Norah. Despite the Juno-esque titles and soundtrack (which is awesome by the way), I truly loved this film! It was hilarious and fun and sweet in all the right places. I was especially glad at how closely it followed the book. The only parts changed were the name of Nick’s band from the Fuck Offs to the Jerk Offs, and the craziness of Caroline. The whole part about her getting lost was great. Caroline made the movie for me.
Cera was awkward but endearing as ever. Dennings was sassy and clever. The Q & A session was a blast. Cera was a lot shorter in person that I imagined. There were a lot of questions about an Arrested Development movie, which Cera respectfully declined to answer. Dennings got a lot of questions about her experiences working on Charlie Bartlett. Yours truly even got to sneak in a question. It went something like this:
You were great on Sex and the City. How did you like working on the “bat mitzvah” episode (Hot Child in the City)?
Kat Dennings: It was great! I don’t think I had a bat mitzvah, so that was really fun. I did that when I was like 14, and I was just excited that I got to get my hair straightened for like the first time ever.
Did they let you keep anything? Any of the fashion?
Kat Dennings: Yeah actually. They let me keep my zebra print dress…well they made me buy it, but…
You’re welcome. That was the best thing I could think to ask. Someone beat me to “Michael, what kind of girls do you like?!” giggle. All in all, Nick and Norah was a great little flick with a lot of heart. Seeing Dev’s boyfriend head-butt Tal was awesome, along with Norah punching Nick in the throat. So if you like violence and semi-indie rock music, you’ll dig Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.
And just a side note postscript… I got recognized at the theater by a Film School Rejects reader! How ’bout that, eh? He asked me about the site and what I liked writing about. Nice kid. He and his friend were Pixar-hopeful animators. Long live 2D animation, T.J. and Laura.
