NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST

Magical and infinitely charming, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist takes the idea of characters enduring a madcap all-nighter and turns itinto a sweet little movie about misfits who fall in love.

The titular "couple" is heartbroken Nick (Michael Cera), who can't seemto get over his fembot ex (Alexis Dziena), and acerbic hipster Norah(Kat Dennings), who's harboring a crush for a mix-CD maker she's nevermet. When the lives of all three characters converge at a club, andNorah discovers her mystery man is the seemingly awkward Nick, theantics begin. Soon, Nick's buddies and bandmates—gay boys Thom (thealways awesome Aaron Yoo) and Dev (Rafi Gavron), and tag-along Lethario(Jonanthan Wright)—are enlisted with the duty of taking Norah'ssupremely blitzed best friend, Caroline (Ari Graynor) home... leavingNick and Norah time to track down the location for a top-secret gig bya top-secret band.

Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong.

Faster than you can say, "Where's Fluffly?", the boys lose thegirl—literally—and everyone begins a crazy night-long search throughManhattan for their missing charge.

The key to this film's winning formula lies squarely in its twoleads, who have fantastic chemistry and who avoid the pitfalls of beingquirky for quirky's sake. Cera and Dennings are both hugely watchableand so very easy to root for as they fumble their way through theirmishap-laden night. They're funny, they make mistakes, they argue...and they both want love so badly that it radiates off of them. From theinitial sparks between them to the gradual development of theirfriendship alongside a budding romance, Nick and Norah's journey isfully engaging and endearing, and you just want these two kids to wind up together by film's end.

Equally great is the supporting cast, who all create a colorfulbackdrop against which our pair of young heroes can shine. As themusicians and their pretty-boy groupie, Yoo, Gavron and Wright are aterrific band of merry men, and Graynor wins the MVP award hands downfor her brilliant, outrageous turn as the drunk-beyond-recognition girlwho sets the night in motion. She reminded me a lot of Penelope AnnMIller in Adventures in Babysitting—the panicked teen lost in the big city, whose comic misadventures make the film that much funnier.

Oh, and the soundtrack? Not surprisingly, based on the film's title(which kind of demands that it rock hard), so totally awesome.

It's rare that I see a film and actually wish that it had been longer, but the brisk running time and thoroughly enjoyable experience that is N&N made me wish it had been 20 minutes longer... if for no other reasonthan to witness the continued life of the world's longest-lasting pieceof gum.