''Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist'' is a 2008 American
romantic comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
film directed by
Peter Sollett
Peter Sollett (born January 1, 1976) is an American film director and screenwriter known for his feature films '' Raising Victor Vargas'' (2002) and '' Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist'' (2008).
Early life
Sollett was born in Bensonhurst, Brook ...
and starring
Michael Cera
Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series), The Berenstain ...
and
Kat Dennings
Katherine Victoria Litwack (born June 13, 1986), known professionally as Kat Dennings, is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Max Black in the CBS sitcom '' 2 Broke Girls'' (2011–2017) and as Darcy Lewis in the Marvel ...
. Written by
Lorene Scafaria
Lorene Scafaria (born 1978) is an American filmmaker, playwright, musician, and former actress. She wrote and directed the films ''Seeking a Friend for the End of the World'' (2012), ''The Meddler'' (2015), and '' Hustlers'' (2019), in addition ...
and based on the
novel of the same name by
Rachel Cohn
Rachel Cohn (born December 14, 1968) is an American young adult fiction writer. Her first book, '' Gingerbread'', was published in 2002. Since then she has gone on to write many other successful YA and younger children's books, and has collabora ...
and
David Levithan
David Levithan (born September 7, 1972) is an American young adult fiction author and editor."David Levithan". October 30, 2008. Gale Database. ''Contemporary Authors Online''. UWM Golda Meir Library, Milwaukee. July 1, 2009. He has written numer ...
, the story tells of teenagers Nick (Cera) and Norah (Dennings), who meet when Norah asks Nick to pretend to be her boyfriend for five minutes. Over the course of the night, they try to find their favorite band's secret show and search for Norah's drunken best friend.
The film came into development in 2003 when producer
Kerry Kohansky Roberts
Kerry Kohansky Roberts (born 1975) is an American film producer best known for her work on the 2008 film ''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist''.
Career
Born in Long Island, New York, Kohansky attended New York University's (NYU) Tisch School o ...
found Cohn and Levithan's novel and decided to
adapt it for film. Scafaria was hired to write the script in 2005, and Sollett signed on to direct the film in 2006. Principal photography took place over 29 days from October to December 2007, primarily in Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York City.
The film premiered on September 6, 2008, at the
2008 Toronto International Film Festival
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9.
In mathematics
8 is:
* a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2.
* a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of the ...
and was released theatrically on October 3, 2008. It tripled its US$10million budget with a total gross of US$33.5million. An accompanying soundtrack was released on September 23, 2008, and the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 3, 2009. It attracted generally positive reviews from critics and received nominations for three
Satellite Award
The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...
s, one
GLAAD Media Award
The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their live ...
, one
MTV Movie Award
The MTV Movie & TV Awards (formerly the MTV Movie Awards) is a film and television awards show presented annually on MTV. The first MTV Movie Awards were presented in 1992. The ceremony was renamed the MTV Movie & TV Awards for its 26th editi ...
and one
Golden Reel Award.
Plot
New Jersey teenager Nick O'Leary is a straight
bass player
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low bra ...
in a
queercore
Queercore (or homocore) is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specifical ...
band that tentatively calls themselves The Jerk-Offs. Nick is heartbroken after his girlfriend Tris dumps him and continues to make "breakup"
mix CDs for her. Bandmates Thom and Dev convince Nick to perform at a club and search for a secret show that legendary
indie
Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Gaming
*Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies
*Indie game, any game (board ...
band Where's Fluffy? is performing in New York City that night.
Norah Silverberg attends
Convent of the Sacred Heart, along with Tris and their mutual friend Caroline, and admires Nick's taste in music when retrieving Nick's CDs after Tris throws them out. The three girls end up at
Arlene's Grocery
Arlene's Grocery is a bar and music venue located in the Lower East Side district of Manhattan. It is located at 95 Stanton Street between Orchard St and Ludlow St. The venue was opened by Shane Doyle and two partners in 1995. Shane Doyle was als ...
on Manhattan's
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
, where The Jerk-Offs are playing. Norah asks Nick to pretend to be her boyfriend after Tris teases her about her lack of a boyfriend. Norah kisses him, unaware that he is Tris' ex-boyfriend. Caroline gets drunk and Norah wants to take her home, but Nick's bandmates (who see Norah as a potential new girlfriend for him) offer to take Caroline home so Norah and Nick can spend time together and find the "Where's Fluffy?" show.
When Thom and Dev stop at
Gray's Papaya
Gray's Papaya is a hot dog restaurant chain, with its flagship restaurant located at 2090 Broadway at 72nd Street. In June 2020, it had one location operational during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several other locations had closed prior. Gray's Papa ...
for hot dogs, a confused Caroline escapes from Thom's van, believing they plan to sexually assault her. Nick and Norah meet up with Thom and Dev to try to find her. A confusing phone call leads them to look for her at a club where Where's Fluffy? is rumored to be playing, but with no success in finding Caroline or the band. They finally locate Caroline when she gives them clues in another phone call. A jealous Tris catches up with the group, and Nick leaves them to talk to her.
An upset Norah meets up at a club with her on-again-off-again boyfriend Tal but soon realizes that he has an ulterior motive and hopes to get a record deal with Norah's father, a famous producer, and leaves him. Nick, meanwhile, decides to confront Tris, but she pleads for a ride home and flirts with him in the car. They stop, and while Tris seductively dances in front of the car, Nick reminisces fondly about Norah and the night's events and drives away, leaving Tris behind.
Nick calls Norah, apologizing for leaving, and she agrees to meet him again. They go to
Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten ...
, a music studio owned by Norah's father. Norah gets Nick to play something he wrote in the studio then joins him in the recording room. They both kiss, and Nick gives Norah her first
orgasm. Norah gets a text message from Caroline telling her she learned the location of the Where's Fluffy? show. When they arrive at the show, they meet Tris, who cannot understand why Nick will not take her back, and Tal, who wants the same answer from Norah. Tal starts a fight with Nick, but Thom and Dev's friend Lethario steps in and headbutts Tal. Nick and Norah share a smile and leave together. At
Penn Station Pennsylvania Station is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals.
Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may also refer to
Current train stations
* Baltimore Penn Station
* Pennsylvania Station (Cinc ...
, Nick admits that he does not care about missing the concert, and they kiss on the escalator as the sun rises over New York City.
Cast
*
Michael Cera
Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series), The Berenstain ...
plays Nick, the "straight bass player in a gay band" teenager who is heartbroken after his girlfriend breaks up with him. Cera was the first actor to be cast after being recommended to Sollett by producer
Kerry Kohansky Roberts
Kerry Kohansky Roberts (born 1975) is an American film producer best known for her work on the 2008 film ''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist''.
Career
Born in Long Island, New York, Kohansky attended New York University's (NYU) Tisch School o ...
based on his performance in ''
Arrested Development
The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...
''.
Sollett called him a "genius" and a "terrific actor",
as well as a "brilliant improvisational comedian".
Cera, who had previously taken improvisation classes, said that "It's fun
o improvise just having a conversation. It always feels real because it is real." He lived in an apartment in New York's
East Village for the duration of filming. Cera had never driven a
stick shift vehicle before filming, and was taught so that he could be shot driving Nick's
Yugo
The Yugo (), also marketed as the Zastava Koral (, sr-Cyrl, Застава Корал) and Yugo Koral, is a subcompact car, subcompact hatchback formerly manufactured by Zastava Automobiles, at the time a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav corporation.
...
.
[
* ]Kat Dennings
Katherine Victoria Litwack (born June 13, 1986), known professionally as Kat Dennings, is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Max Black in the CBS sitcom '' 2 Broke Girls'' (2011–2017) and as Darcy Lewis in the Marvel ...
plays Norah, the beautiful teenage daughter of a wealthy record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
who shares Nick's passion for music. Dennings was the second actor to be cast (Cera having been first),[ Sollett saying that "her being liberated from eople's expectationsliberated the film in many ways, and certainly her character from cliché." Dennings felt that she related to Norah more than any other she had played before and "wanted to make sure she was really fleshed out". Her favorite day of shooting was with a group of ]drag queen
A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...
s at a gay cabaret,[ but she said that filming Norah's first orgasm was "really uncomfortable... Really, really."]
* Alexis Dziena
Alexis Gabrielle Dziena (born July 8, 1984) is an American actress.
Early life
Dziena was born in New York City and is of Irish, Italian and Polish descent. She attended the private Saint Ann's School alongside her ''Bringing Rain'' (2003) co ...
plays Tris, Nick's unfaithful ex-girlfriend who attends school with Norah and Caroline. Dziena was one of the first actors cast, having done her final read-through audition with Cera, Dennings, and Graynor.[ She said that the filming period was "a really fantastic time", but complained about the night shoots and having to sleep through the day: "Oh, it's terrible. ... I'm okay as long as the sun's not up when I'm going to sleep but sleeping during the day is rough."
* ]Ari Graynor
Ariel Geltman Graynor (born April 27, 1983) is an American actress, known for her roles in TV series such as ''I'm Dying Up Here'', ''The Sopranos'' and ''Fringe'', in stage productions such as ''Brooklyn Boy'' and ''The Little Dog Laughed'', and ...
plays Caroline, Norah's best friend. Graynor auditioned for the roles of both Norah and Caroline, and was chosen to play Caroline, which she says rescued her from "one of those horrible actor black holes of really thinking that I'd probably never work again". Graynor related to both characters, saying that "I've had many nights as Caroline. And I've had many nights as Norah, taking care of Caroline."[ Sollett claimed that "everything she did in the movie was her own invention", calling her improvisation "brilliant".] She improvised an entire scene taking place at the Port Authority Bus Station in which Caroline talks to a stranger and which was not part of the script.[ When Caroline vomits, Graynor held a mixture of ]ginger ale
Ginger ale is a carbonated soft drink flavoured with ginger. It is consumed on its own or used as a mixer, often with spirit-based drinks. There are two main types of ginger ale. The golden style is credited to the Irish doctor Thomas Joseph ...
and ginger cookie in her mouth which she spat into a toilet and a bag.[
* ]Aaron Yoo
Aaron Yoo (born May 12, 1979) is an American actor. He is best known for appearing in the films '' Disturbia'' (2007), '' 21'' (2008), and ''Friday the 13th'' (2009), as well as playing Russell Kwon in the sci-fi series ''The Tomorrow People'' ( ...
plays Thom, Nick's friend and the guitarist for The Jerk-Offs. Yoo was supposed to mime playing the guitar when filming The Jerk-Offs' concert, but requested that he be taught the chords to play when he had spare time. He found it very difficult to drive the van featured in the film and jokingly referred to it as a "tank" and a "World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
veteran".
* Rafi Gavron
Raphael Pichey Gavron (born 24 June 1989) is an English-American actor. He had supporting roles in the films ''Breaking and Entering'' (2006), ''Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist'' (2008), '' A Star Is Born'' (2018), and the series '' Life Unex ...
plays Dev, Nick's friend and the lead singer of The Jerk-Offs. Gavron recorded a song performed by The Jerk-Offs in the film at Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten ...
, where part of the story takes place. Filming The Jerk-Offs' concert at Don Hill's in New York, the owner of the bar, Don Hill, mistook Gavron for a professional musician in spite of Gavron's calling himself a "useless singer".
* Jonathan B. Wright as Beefy Guy (Lethario), a new gay friend of Thom and Dev.
* Jay Baruchel
Jonathan Adam Saunders Baruchel (; born April 9, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. He is known for his voice role as Hiccup Haddock in the ''How to Train Your Dragon'' franchise, and for his roles in comedy movies ...
plays Tal, Norah's " friend with benefits" and an amateur musician. Baruchel said that the film was "by far the hippest movie I've ever been in—that's for damn sure".
Cameos
* Rachel Cohn
Rachel Cohn (born December 14, 1968) is an American young adult fiction writer. Her first book, '' Gingerbread'', was published in 2002. Since then she has gone on to write many other successful YA and younger children's books, and has collabora ...
and David Levithan
David Levithan (born September 7, 1972) is an American young adult fiction author and editor."David Levithan". October 30, 2008. Gale Database. ''Contemporary Authors Online''. UWM Golda Meir Library, Milwaukee. July 1, 2009. He has written numer ...
, authors of the same-titled novel on which the film is based, have uncredited cameos as a couple sitting behind Nick and Norah at a diner.
* Lorene Scafaria
Lorene Scafaria (born 1978) is an American filmmaker, playwright, musician, and former actress. She wrote and directed the films ''Seeking a Friend for the End of the World'' (2012), ''The Meddler'' (2015), and '' Hustlers'' (2019), in addition ...
, who wrote the screenplay for the film, cameos as Drunk Girl in Yugo
* Seth Meyers
Seth Adam Meyers (born December 28, 1973) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, and television host. He hosts ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'', a late-night talk show on NBC. Prior to that, he was a cast member and head writer for NBC ...
and Andy Samberg
Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer and screenwriter. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island and was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2005 ...
, then working together in the cast of ''Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'', cameo as Drunk Guy in Yugo and Homeless Man, respectively
* Eddie Kaye Thomas
Eddie Kaye Thomas (born October 31, 1980) is an American actor who rose to prominence as Paul Finch in the ''American Pie'' film series. His other notable appearances include Andy Rosenberg in the ''Harold & Kumar'' series, Jeff Woodcock in ...
, Graynor's then boyfriend, cameos as Jesus in a gay cabaret[
* ]John Cho
John Cho (born Cho Yo-Han; June 16, 1972) is an American actor known for his roles as Harold Lee in the ''Harold & Kumar'' films, and Hikaru Sulu in the ''Star Trek'' rebooted film series.
Early in his career, Cho also starred in the Asian Ame ...
cameos as Hype Man
* Kevin Corrigan
Kevin Corrigan (born ) is an American character actor. He has appeared mostly in independent films and television since the 1990s, including as Uncle Eddie on the sitcom ''Grounded for Life'' (2001–2005). His film appearances include support ...
agreed to cameo as Man at Port Authority so long as he had no speaking lines; his turkey sandwich scene, which was not scripted, was entirely improvised by Graynor.[
* Devendra Banhart, whose song "Lover" plays during the opening credits/scenes, cameos as Customer in Deli.
]
Production
Writing
''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'' was originally the novel written by Rachel Cohn
Rachel Cohn (born December 14, 1968) is an American young adult fiction writer. Her first book, '' Gingerbread'', was published in 2002. Since then she has gone on to write many other successful YA and younger children's books, and has collabora ...
and David Levithan
David Levithan (born September 7, 1972) is an American young adult fiction author and editor."David Levithan". October 30, 2008. Gale Database. ''Contemporary Authors Online''. UWM Golda Meir Library, Milwaukee. July 1, 2009. He has written numer ...
, which producer Kerry Kohansky Roberts
Kerry Kohansky Roberts (born 1975) is an American film producer best known for her work on the 2008 film ''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist''.
Career
Born in Long Island, New York, Kohansky attended New York University's (NYU) Tisch School o ...
brought into development as a film in 2003. Lorene Scafaria
Lorene Scafaria (born 1978) is an American filmmaker, playwright, musician, and former actress. She wrote and directed the films ''Seeking a Friend for the End of the World'' (2012), ''The Meddler'' (2015), and '' Hustlers'' (2019), in addition ...
was hired by Roberts in early 2005 to adapt the novel for Chris
Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common.
People with the given name
* Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...
and Paul Weitz and Focus Features
Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...
; the script was her first film adaptation
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...
. Peter Sollett
Peter Sollett (born January 1, 1976) is an American film director and screenwriter known for his feature films '' Raising Victor Vargas'' (2002) and '' Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist'' (2008).
Early life
Sollett was born in Bensonhurst, Brook ...
signed on to direct the film in 2006, when the script was in its second draft, and collaborated with Scafaria.[ Scafaria said that Norah "was me on the page",][ while Sollett felt that as a teenager he was "not dissimilar to Nick".][ Both had similar experiences to Nick and Norah, commuting into ]Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
at night, Scafaria from New Jersey and Sollett from Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
.[
Cohn and Levithan had written the novel in alternating chapters: Cohn writing from Norah's perspective and Levithan writing from Nick's perspective. Cera and Dennings recorded ]voice-over
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...
narration to mimic the first-person perspective from which the novel is written, but the voice-overs were not included in the final cut of the film. Scafaria says that the differences between the novel and the film were "to make it a little more cinematic". She said that Nick and Norah's parents were written out of the script "to absorb what it's like to be young, ecauseyou're not thinking about your parents when you're out all night".[ In addition to searching for ''Where's Fluffy?'', Sollett felt that the film needed a second ]MacGuffin
In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail for ...
to propel the story forwards, so Norah's best friend Caroline got drunk and then lost, giving Nick and Norah an additional objective.[
]
Filming
Shooting on a budget of US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
10million, principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
of ''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'' took place from late October to early December 2007. The film was shot over 29 days in one-week blocks, and was one of the first to receive a filming subsidy from the state of New York under the "Made in NY" incentive program. Filming took place mainly in Manhattan's East Village and Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
,[ as well as Williamsburg, ]Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. Filming locations included Katz's Delicatessen
Katz's Delicatessen, also known as Katz's of New York City, is a kosher-style delicatessen at 205 East Houston Street, on the southwest corner of Houston and Ludlow Streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. , Mercury Lounge
The Mercury Lounge is a live music venue in the Lower East Side of New York City. Like its brother venue The Bowery Ballroom, The Mercury Lounge is celebrated as an iconic indie venue due to its acoustics, its fostering and even launching of up ...
, Arlene's Grocery
Arlene's Grocery is a bar and music venue located in the Lower East Side district of Manhattan. It is located at 95 Stanton Street between Orchard St and Ludlow St. The venue was opened by Shane Doyle and two partners in 1995. Shane Doyle was als ...
, Pennsylvania Station
Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...
, Port Authority Bus Terminal
The Port Authority Bus Terminal (colloquially known as the Port Authority and by its acronym PABT) is a bus station, bus terminal located in Manhattan in New York City. It is the busiest bus terminal in the world by volume of traffic, serving abo ...
, Veselka restaurant, and Don Hill's bar.[ Union Pool, a bar in Brooklyn, was also used for filming but requested to be called "Brooklyn Pool" in the film,][ and Norah's father's recording studio was filmed at ]Electric Lady Studios
Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten ...
.[ Some scenes were shot on a ]sound stage
A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a soundproof, large structure, building, or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or ...
in a studio in Brooklyn.[
The cast did many rehearsals, including on-location rehearsals, which Dennings described as "the most practical thing I've ever heard of".][ During the course of filming, the actors slept during the day, woke in the afternoon, had their make-up applied on set, and filmed from dusk until dawn.][ The cast and crew members would often sit inside The Jerk-Offs' van between takes to avoid the cold, and sometimes stayed inside, out of sight, while scenes were being filmed in the van.] Reshoots of the film began in May 2008;[ the film had originally begun at The Jerk-Offs' show where Nick and Norah first meet, and all prior scenes were written in later. Editor Myron Kerstein cut some of the shots on set due to time and budgetary restraints.
]
Reception
Critical response
''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'' received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
gives the film a score of 75% based on 186 reviews, with an average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'' combines a pair of charming leads, the classic New York backdrop, and a sweet soundtrack". At Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 64 out of 100, based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Claudia Puig of ''USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, praising Dennings' on-screen presence, the "considerable chemistry" between Cera and Dennings, and the "excellent" soundtrack.
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' critic A. O. Scott described ''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'' as a "shy, sweet romance" that "surveys the varieties of teenage experience with tolerant sympathy".
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
of ReelViews reviewed the film warmly with three out of four stars, complimenting the soundtrack, the "witty" dialog and the appeal of the film to both adults and teenagers. Michael Ordona wrote for the ''Los Angeles Times'' that the film is familiar, but is "fleshed out with atmosphere, a nice blend of broad goofiness and sophistication, and two appealing leads who bring it to life". ''Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
''s Lisa Schwarzbaum graded the film as an A−, giving particular commendation to its nonchalant portrayal of gay teenagers and Norah's Jewish identity. Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''Time''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects.
He was the former editor-in-chief of '' Film Commen ...
of ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine opined that the film was "smart, sweet, ndbordering-on-adorable" while the title characters were "worth watching, admiring and cuddling up to".
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' wrote that ''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'' "doesn't bring much to the party. ..It's not much of a film, but it sort of gets you halfway there, like a Yugo." ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''s Peter Travers
Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...
gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying, "I'm yawning just writing this.... Sollett, hoping for a ''Before Sunrise
''Before Sunrise'' is a 1995 romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater and co-written by Linklater and Kim Krizan. The first installment in the ''Before'' trilogy, it follows Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) as they meet ...
''/''Before Sunset
''Before Sunset'' is a 2004 American romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, from a story by Linklater and Kim Krizan. The sequel to ''Before Sunrise'' (1995) and the seco ...
'' vibe, sadly settles for a soggy aftertaste." In a review for ''The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'', Robert Wilonsky likened the film to "something crafted in a lab by 54-year-old hucksters trying to sell shit to the kids under the cheerless guise of 'alternative.' The only thing it's an alternative to? Good."
''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' magazine's John Anderson described it as a "sparsely plotted comedy" that is "sweet, no doubt, but a bit too slick for its own good".
Box office
The world premiere of ''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'' was held on September 6, 2008, at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9.
In mathematics
8 is:
* a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2.
* a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of the ...
. It was released theatrically in the United States on October 3, 2008, grossing US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
11,311,751 from 2,421 screens on its debut weekend, placing third in the box office rankings. The following weekend, it grossed $6,420,474 with a per-screen average of $2,652 and a cumulative gross of $20,730,708, ranking fifth. It earned another $3,693,384 on its third weekend with a per-screen average of $1,648 and a cumulative gross of $26,500,875, dropping to eighth place.[ The film ended its theatrical run with a total domestic gross of $31,487,293 and a foreign gross of $2,018,844, giving a worldwide total of $33,506,137.] It placed 92nd for the highest-grossing films of 2008 and 85th for the year's highest-grossing opening weekends.
The film was screened at the London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...
in October 2008 and at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema
The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, es, Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the month of April, in the city of ...
in March 2009.
Award nominations
''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'' was nominated for three Satellite Award
The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...
s, in the categories of Best Film – Musical or Comedy, Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Michael Cera), Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Kat Dennings), but failed to win any.
The film was also nominated at the GLAAD Media Awards
The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their live ...
in the category of Outstanding Film – Wide Release, and Kat Dennings was nominated for an MTV Movie Award
The MTV Movie & TV Awards (formerly the MTV Movie Awards) is a film and television awards show presented annually on MTV. The first MTV Movie Awards were presented in 1992. The ceremony was renamed the MTV Movie & TV Awards for its 26th editi ...
for Best Breakthrough Performance – Female.
The film's supervising music editor Andrew Dorfman was nominated for a Golden Reel Award by the Motion Picture Sound Editors
Motion Picture Sound Editors (M.P.S.E.) is an American honorary society of motion picture sound editors founded in 1953. The society's goals are to educate others about and increase the recognition of the sound editors, show the artistic merit o ...
for Best Sound Editing – Music in a Feature Film, but did not win.
Home media
''Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist'' was released on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
and Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
in North America on February 3, 2009. The disc includes: one audio commentary
An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
with Peter Sollett, Michael Cera, Kat Dennings and Ari Graynor, and another with Sollett, Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, and Lorene Scafaria; the featurettes "A Nick and Norah Puppet Show by Kat Dennings" and "Ari Graynor's Video Diary: A Look Behind-the-Scenes"; a music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
for Bishop Allen
Bishop Allen is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, United States. The band's core members are Justin Rice and Christian Rudder, who are supported both on stage and in the studio by a rotating cast of musical collaborators. The ...
's song "Middle Management"; storyboard animations with optional audio commentary; a faux
Faux may refer to: People
*Faux (surname)
Places Places in Belgium
* Faux, a village in the Belgian commune of Court-Saint-Étienne
Places in France
* Faux, Ardennes, French commune of the Ardennes department
* Faux, Dordogne, French commune of t ...
interview with Michael Cera, Kat Dennings and Eddie Kaye Thomas; deleted scene
A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...
s; outtake
An outtake is a portion of a work (usually a film or music recording) that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and DV ...
s; and a photo gallery.
Soundtrack
Cohn and Levithan's novel contained many musical references, including songs by The Cure
The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...
and Green Day
Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...
, as did Scafaria's screenplay, which she originally submitted with a mix CD featuring her ideas for the film's soundtrack, including songs by The Black Keys
The Black Keys are an American rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, vocals) and Patrick Carney (drums). The duo began as an independent act, recording music in basements and self-producing their ...
, Bloc Party
Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band, composed of Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, sampler), Russell Lissack (lead guitar, keyboards), Justin Harris (bass guitar, keyboards, saxophones, backing vocals) and Loui ...
, and Frou Frou. In the final cut of the film, however, most of the music was chosen by Sollett, editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
Myron Kerstein and music supervisor
A music supervisor is a person who combines music and visual media. According to The Guild of Music Supervisors, a music supervisor is “a qualified professional who oversees all music related aspects of film, television, advertising, video games ...
Linda Cohen.[ Sollett said that he "got lucky" with the songs that he was able to choose because, within the financiers and the studio, "there was nobody in that group who knew all that much about music or the music that we had in the film".][ His objective when selecting the music was to find "the best music you haven't heard yet", primarily from bands based in New York City.] While filming in New York, he emailed songs "right out of my iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
ibrary which he thought would suit particular scenes to Kerstein, who was in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
assembling the film as it was shot.
See also
* Nick and Nora Charles
Nick and Nora Charles are fictional characters created by Dashiell Hammett in his novel ''The Thin Man''. The characters were later adapted for film in a series of films between 1934 and 1947; for radio from 1941 to 1950; for television from 1957 ...
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
*
*
Author Rachel Cohn
Author David Levithan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
2008 LGBT-related films
2000s coming-of-age comedy-drama films
2008 romantic comedy-drama films
2000s teen comedy-drama films
2000s teen romance films
2008 films
American coming-of-age comedy-drama films
American romantic comedy-drama films
American teen comedy-drama films
American teen drama films
American teen LGBT-related films
American teen romance films
Coming-of-age romance films
2000s English-language films
Films about music and musicians
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Peter Sollett
Films scored by Mark Mothersbaugh
Films set in New Jersey
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
LGBT-related romantic comedy-drama films
Mandate Pictures films
2000s American films