Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It was one of those quirky rom-coms that are kind of mainly aimed at guys I think. A too-perfect girl swoops in and 'solves' some dude's life (she's even rich in this story.) I think the existence this genre shows that guys like a little (ridiculous, improbable, escapist) romance in their life as well. Kind of egalitarian in its way.

I didn't hate this movie, but I wasn't very impressed. Like the hipsters it worships, it is arch and lazily pretty and deeply judgmental. It embraces quirks and what it imagines to be honesty, and so it imagines itself progressive and accepting when it is in fact only reinforcing its own particular mores as hard as any other movie. A naked attempt at bottling and selling the youth culture of the 00's. It clearly strives to have that Garden State-style kickass soundtrack, but relies too much on unpolished charm which came off (for me) as messy and sloppy.

Also, the supporting cast is entirely unnecessary. There's two exes (one for him and one for her) which serve only to pointlessly and momentarily delay the central pair's inevitable hook-up. This movie also takes place in the space of one night. The boy gets over his ex in less than a day. There's a drunk chick who is just gross. She later shouts 'I love you New York' to remind you, once again, that this is set in NY.

There's also a trio of gay guys who act as sort of fairy god-mothers. I'm often annoyed by gay guys in movies. Maybe it's that I take them too personally. They almost never feel like actual real characters to me, just daring rejections of stereotypes or even more daring confirmations of stereotypes (to say nothing of that they're usually played by straight guys anyway. Are there no gays in Hollywood?) In this movie they prance and deliver glib one-liners but tellingly never so much as kiss each other. We do, however, get to visit a drag bar (the less said about that horrible scene the better) and for some reason the gay guys just happen to have a trunk full of bras (??) in their car. The gays get more likeable eventually and anyway I think some of my annoyance may be misdirected ego-centrism. My most common thought when watching/judging gay characters is 'I don't act like that.' which is sort of beside the point, isn't it?

... Anyway, the film's not bad, but it's not really good either. The least bit of digging pulls it apart, so, if you watch this film, don't dig.