Perhaps I'm stating the obvious, but the best soundtracks always take on the character of the movie they accompany, and vice versa, and that's certainly the case with Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. The film, which follows the bridge-and-tunnel protagonists Nick (Michael Cera) and Norah (Kat Dennings) on a night of hijinks through the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan, is packed full of blink-and-you-miss-it hipster cameos from current faves Andy Samberg, Seth Myers, John Cho and Kevin Corrigan. Likewise, the soundtrack is so chock-full of NOW indie rock, that it can make you feel like you're trapped in the back seat of Nick's claustrophobic yellow Yugo. (A magical Yugo, it seems, as it's somehow always able to easily find street parking in Manhattan.)

Vampire Weekend, Modest Mouse, The National and Band of Horses are all on board, but in fact, their impact in the film is felt even less than the five seconds of Andy Samberg's homeless bestiality turn. Mark Mothersbaugh (The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic) wrote an interesting, Postal Service-like score, but after the first 15 minutes, you'd be hard pressed to find it, as it seems pushed aside in favor of an indie rock snippet barrage. The song selections aren't all as wasted, though. In fact both the film and soundtrack start off beautifully, pairing the heartbreak of Chris Bell ("Speed of Sound") with the equally devastated Nick. Leaving the pathetic phone message with Bell on in the background (on vinyl, no less) tells us more about Nick in the first few minutes than the rest of the film will

There are more touching moments like this, where the music pairing is thoughtful and not concerned with being hip. A little past halfway through the film, there's a montage that features Richard Hawley's enchanting "Baby You're My Light," and then a little later, the Paul Tiernan ballad "How to Say Goodbye" provides ample goosebumps in a scene between our love birds. All these songs seem more in the spirit of what the book, which the film was adapted from, was aiming for. Co-writer Rachel Cohn recently provided a list of all the music mentioned in the novel, which, in many respects, would've made for a better film, perhaps on par with High Fidelity. Telling that the only artist that made it into this adaptation (Dusty Springfield, albeit with a different song, "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me") wasn't included on the soundtrack.

To that end, here's a playlist of all the music I noticed in the film, including those songs that didn't make the soundtrack:

Playlist: Rssmbld Sndtrck - Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Tracklisting

The original Nick and Nora Charles, (The Thin Man) were detectives solving a mystery, and that's sort of the case here as well, as our protagonists look for clues to hunt down the location of a secret show by their favorite band, the fictional Where's Fluffy. First they find each other, starting the night at a Bishop Allen show, whose opening act is Nick's queercore band (the other 2/3 of Nick's band are gay) "We're the Jerk-Offs". One of the clues they find leads to a bait-and-switch show, featuring the infectious Brooklyn laptop duo Project Jenny, Project Jan as the disappointing Are You Randy? For some reason, their song "Negative" empties the building like a bomb threat. Another search requiring gumshoe is finding the alcoholic Caroline (played by the scene stealing Ari Graynor) who has run off after overhearing something about "going balls deep." It's the stoner metal act Scissorfight that provides the phrase with their disturbing song "Balls Deep." This makes for one of the more interesting music choices of the film, especially given their name's reference to tribadism. I guess it's just as well, considering there's a gay Lothario involved as well.

Devendra Banhart makes a cameo as well, but his is even more puzzling to me. "This is my song," says Norah at one point, perking up when Banhart's "Lover" plays in a club (the song's second appearance in the film). Later, though, in an awkward cameo Banhart speaks to her, and she doesn't seem to have any clue (or care) who he is. Maybe it's just that Banhart isn't playing himself, but he certainly dressed the part -- no wardrobe staff required here.

It was towards the end of the film, probably as Nick steered his yellow Yugo into another mythical NYC parking spot, that I found myself flashing back to Martin Scorsese's under-appreciated work After Hours (1985), which similarly follows its hapless protagonist Paul (Griffin Dunne) all night through the streets of New York, peppered with a great collection of hilarious cameos. Instead of that film's lost $20 bill loosely tying the film together, though, here we're subjected to Caroline's gum. After a while, like the film and soundtrack, even puke-laden gum inevitably loses its bite. In the end, both the film and soundtrack prove to be color-by-number offerings, sprinkled with just enough interesting moments to keep you caring to the end.

More: Heck, I'm a bit more partial to the playlists that actors Michael Cera and Kat Dennings put together for iTunes (Cera, for the record, doesn't own an iPod).

Michael Cera's Playlist
Kat Denning's Playlist

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