# Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist -Why do I hate this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167 "2008-10-02T14:12:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/1 "2008-10-02T14:12:22Z")
For some reason, I now hate this movie. I haven’t seen it of course, but something about the ads has turned me against it. I’m not sure what. It’s not over satturated. It’s getting there, but it isn’t as bad as some movies get. I like Michael Cera, but there is something about “I assure you this is not a cab”, that bugs me. It’s a little too much like “I assure you we are open”, maybe? Ok the ‘pretend you’re my boyfriend’ and then getting kissed by a hot stranger is like the lamest plot device. Maybe it’s the Thin Man joke of the title, that I’m sure most of the youngsters won’t get is bothering me. Is anybody else just turned off by this movie? ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/2 "2008-10-02T14:30:25Z")
I had the opposite reaction. despite the lame “pretend you’re my boyfriend” plot point, the previews look really intriguing to me, the reviews are good, and I’m looking forward to it. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/3 "2008-10-02T14:31:33Z")
That’s how I first felt about it, but, for some reason I’ve swung over to the other side. ---
**Author:** ![Simmerdown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simmerdown/32/14859_2.png) [@Simmerdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simmerdown)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/4 "2008-10-02T14:48:01Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > For some reason, I now hate this movie. I haven’t seen it of course, but something about the ads has turned me against it. > > I’m not sure what. Maybe it’s this missing cast member? > **[Asta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asta)** > > Asta may refer to: ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/5 "2008-10-02T14:48:55Z")
I’m getting a little tired of Micheal Cera’s one-note performances. All of his various roles are completely interchangable. It’s like getting another Will Ferrell sports movie. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/6 "2008-10-02T15:53:54Z")
I had a similar reaction. I think it’s because the plot looks so formulatic: Nerdy kid hangs around cute girl and they fall for each other. And it looks to have several contrived situations that would never happen in real life (e.g. mistaking his compact car for a cab) that are integral to the plot. Cera’s previous movies seemed to be more independent and unique in that they brought something new to the screen. This just seems like they’re trying to cash in. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/7 "2008-10-02T16:00:05Z")
The big plus for me is that this is the first film from Peter Sollett since his exquisite [_ **Raising Victor Vargas** _](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0316188/), probably the best English-language teen movie of the last decade. That alone makes me interested. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/8 "2008-10-02T16:03:34Z")
Maybe it’s the same problem many pointed out about Juno. The dialouge just seems a bit too clever and witty to sound natural coming from these teens. Good looking girls and athletic guys are idiots and are outsmarted by rapid clever witty words coming from the feeble heroes. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/9 "2008-10-02T16:11:21Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I’m getting a little tired of Micheal Cera’s one-note performances. All of his various roles are completely interchangable. It’s like getting another Will Ferrell sports movie. _Get out of my head._ Michael Cera during _Arrested Development_: What a find! What comic timing! What a unique performance! Michael Cera for _Nick and Norah_: Jeez, _ **again** _?!? And now that I hear he seems to be the one holdout for the AD movie, he’s quickly becoming someone I actively hate instead of actively get annoyed by. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/10 "2008-10-02T16:14:04Z")
It’s not supposed to be natural sounding, it’s supposed to be funny. I did have that complaint about Juno (I was very late to the party, having only seen the thing this month), but my problem wasn’t that it was too witty for teens, it’s that the movie was so self-consciously hip that it distanced you from the characters. That’s not a always problem, but when the topic is teen pregnancy I think it doesn’t work very well. But back to Nick and Norah- I’ve got kind of a soft spot for this movie because I saw them doing two location shoots in my neighborhood, and I’m on record as a Michael Cera fan. That’s based on Arrested Development much more than Superbad or Juno, however. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/11 "2008-10-02T16:56:16Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > But back to Nick and Norah- I’ve got kind of a soft spot for this movie because I saw them doing two location shoots in my neighborhood, and I’m on record as a Michael Cera fan. That’s based on Arrested Development much more than Superbad or Juno, however. The whole set is _The Continued Adventures of George Michael Bluth_ from the way Cera handles it. 😛 I don’t really blame Michael Cera, I guess. He’s just reading the scripts and doing what he was cast to do. I just find all of his characters to be interchangable – whoever’s fault it is. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/12 "2008-10-02T17:09:42Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I like Michael Cera, but there is something about “I assure you this is not a cab”, that bugs me. It’s a little too much like “I assure you we are open”, maybe? He sounded more like a [insert minority of your choosing] taxi cab driver telling a person that his cab was not in service, as was the case of the closing of that phrase, “I assure you this is not a cab, _ **my friend** _.” It didn’t have a vaguely **Clerks** feel at all. As for the improbable situations shown in the trailer for this movie, well it’s a movie, not a documentary. It’s the extreme situations in comedies like this that drives the story, not the banality of normal, non-situational life. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/13 "2008-10-02T21:09:12Z")
I’ve never found Michael Cera funny, not even in the handful of Arrested Development episodes I was able to sit through. The trailers for N&NIP I’ve seen just go to enhance that. The first trailers, dealing with Nick’s ex, amused me. Both the absurd lines and her delivery were funny - mildly, granted, but funny. When they started concentrating on Nick…not so much. The lines aren’t funny in and of themselves, and his delivery saps any humour that existed in them. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/14 "2008-10-03T02:10:18Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Maybe it’s the Thin Man joke of the title, that I’m sure most of the youngsters won’t get is bothering me. Yes, this is what gets me. It makes me want to run out and yell at kids to get off my lawn. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/15 "2008-10-03T04:12:26Z")
All right, I’ll bite. What’s the joke about the title? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/16 "2008-10-03T05:47:54Z")
Based just on his lines in the trailer, I already hate Nick. There’s no way in hell I want to spent a couple hours listening to a character like that. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/17 "2008-10-03T05:57:27Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > All right, I’ll bite. What’s the joke about the title? Nick and Nora Charles are the lead characters of Dashiell Hammett’s book [The Thin Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Man), and were played by William Powell and Myrna Loy in the various _Thin Man_ movies. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/18 "2008-10-03T07:20:31Z")
That didn’t seem like much of a connection (with the different name and all), but some Googling reveals [that is indeed the source](http://www.rachelcohn.com/rachelanddavid.html) from one of the co-authors. By the way, I just saw the commercial, and the line is, “[I’m] not a cab, my friend, I promise you.” No “assure” there. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/19 "2008-10-03T07:52:18Z")
The commercial was on yet again, and the word in brackets is clearly “It’s”. “It’s” not a cab. But I had checked the trailer before to see if maybe it had ‘assure’, and in that one it’s harder to hear; also there is the line directly after that is “I’m not a cab” (as the guy is climbing in). ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2008, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167/20 "2008-10-03T09:31:48Z")
Would it be threadshitting to mention that I’ve seen and enjoyed the film? Or is this just about the trailer and TV commercials? Oh, and the cab line in the film is different than the line in the commercial. It’s either a different take, or they combined two different bits into one. So if that’s all that bothers you, I assure you, you will not hear that particular line. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nick-and-norahs-infinite-playlist-why-do-i-hate-this/466167.md?page=2)