BY Adam Nayman September 05, 2008 10:09
The title evokes The Thin Man but the more accurate reference points are Superbad and Harold and Kumar. But it’s no bromance: instead, straight-edge heteros Michael Cera and Kat Dennings do the are-you-my-soulmate? thing over one incident-laden night in Brookyn’s various hipster-infested rock clubs (i.e. the sort of place where Bishop Allen gets a gig). In short: this is not the sort of movie that many of us wanted Peter Sollett to make after his fine, sincerely independent debut Raising Victor Vargas. But Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist is better than it sounds, partly because Sollett pushes gamely past the script’s rom-com potholes, and partly because Cera is less mannered than usual. As for Dennings, she’s wonderful — as she was in The House Bunny — and she’s positively triumphant during what must be 2008’s most memorable mainstream climax (double entendre intended!).