Broken-hearted New Jersey emo kid Nick (Michael Cera, Juno's baby-daddy) putt-putts in his jokey Yugo around New York one night, bouncing between his queer-core band buddies, his ex-girlfriend and a potentially new soulmate, Norah (Kat Dennings). A healthy -- though hardly infinite -- selection of indie pop laments stitches the slender plot together, while the hackneyed comic plot device of Crazy Drunk Friend continually undermines the film's intended wispy charms. (I'm old enough to think of Nick and Norah as the less-talented offspring of Scorsese's one-kooky-night-in-NYC comedy, After Hours, and the arty-teens-in-love classic Say Anything.) Ultimately, Paul Sollett's romantic teen comedy is much like the tunes on its soundtrack -- inoffensive, a little catchy and not destined to be remembered an hour from now. Cera is adorable -- he's this season's go-to nerd hero -- but I look forward to seeing him play a new tune. (Al Hoff)
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