Blu-ray Movie Reviews

When a group of teens goes blitzing around lower Manhattan looking for a gig by a popular but mysterious band called Where's Fluffy?, Nick (Michael Cera) meets Norah (Kat Dennings). The audience knows they are destined for each other from the start, but of course it takes the duration of the movie for Nick and Norah to find that out for themselves. Otherwise, there would be no movie. The whole thing is rather silly, but the young actors pull it off so well that the film comes across as genuinely sweet and funny, only crossing the saccharine center line once or twice.

The picture and sound on this Blu-ray Disc are fine - nothing to condemn, but nothing necessarily to write home about either. Most of the time, colors are bright and clear; other times, they verge on being a bit oversaturated. This seems to have a lot more to do with the film stock used for the movie than with anything the disc transfer might have added. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound is nicely transparent, but it seems to be mixed largely to the center channel. The surrounds reproduce some of the appealing indie music of the soundtrack but are scarcely ever robust. And there's only sufficient bass, nothing that will truly rock you.

The commentary by Cera, Dennings, fellow cast member Ari Graynor, and director Peter Sollett sounds like it was a lot of fun for the participants, but many listeners might find it a waste of their time. A separate commentary by Sollett and other crew members makes up for that, as it's engaging, humorous, and informative. Outtakes, deleted scenes, "A Nick & Norah Puppet Show," some backstage footage, a faux interview with Cera and Dennings, and a Bishop Allen music video are all lightweight extras. A little better is a segment on storyboard comparisons, with Sollett's alert commentary. You also get a digital copy of the movie.

Best of the Blu-ray-exclusive extras is a Telestrator Commentary, requiring a 1.1-profile player. Observations by Sollett and the actors are written in or pointed out with arrows over the movie. It won't change your life, but it's a lot of fun. The other Blu-ray extras require a 2.0 player - if you care. CineChat allows you to chat with friends while watching the movie, whereas the Interactive Playlist lets you gather your own batch of tunes from the movie and share them with other viewers. This is one of my first experiences with BD-Live, and I've concluded that its target audience is slackers. Who else would have the time to wait through the excruciatingly long load times or endure the clunky menus? As I see it, it's too much effort for too little result.

The Playlist's the thing here - meaning the movie itself, and it probably flies best as an experimental rental to see if you find it as charming as I ultimately did.