Stars:
** 1/2
Rating: PG-13 for
language and mature themes
Run
Time: 1
hour, 30 minutes
Silly teen
romances are a dime-a-dozen and “Nick and Nora” is no exception. But for the
delightful addition of “It” guy Michael Cera (“Juno”) who has managed to woo a
generation of geekier-than-thou adolescents with boy-next-door charm.
Cera is the
titular Nick, a broken-hearted high school senior trying to recover from the
dumping received at the hands (and heart) of Tris (Alexis Dziena), a Lolita in
True Religions who’s moved on to bigger and better things.
About the time
that Nick is burning Tris another volume of his agonizing break-up mix (aptly
titled “Closures”) pals corral him into a night on the town to seek out elusive
underground sensation band Where’s Fluffy, who are dropping baffling clues all
over Manhattan.
At one such
indie rock haunt Nick meets Norah (Kat Dennings), a brainy frenemy of Tris’ and
head squire in best friend cum party girl Caroline’s (Ari Graynor) quest for
maximum attention. There’s a spark, and there’s baggage, in the form of Norah’s
on-again-off-again squeeze who may be using her to get to her record industry
bigwig dad. Not to mention the fact that Tris doesn’t want Nick but doesn’t
want anyone else wanting him either.
The romantic bait and switch is sweet
but not unexpected. The sleepless, all-night format generates memories of other
sparkly genre staples (“Sixteen Candles”, “Before Sunrise”, etc.) and Cera’s
gay best friends give it a fresher face than most. Ditto the intermittent wit
as this bright bunch express such snap observations as not wanting to be the
goody bag at your pity party. Ha.
Cera transcends the material at its
most trite; someone get this guy something dramatic to chew on and fast. As a
valentine to the young bridge and tunnel crowd it works wonders but ultimately
its stale youth and destiny theme grows tiresome.