Long ago I cast away the notion that I would ever enjoy a movie based off of a book that I enjoyed. I even get that movies aren't supposed to be exact retellings of the books on which they are based (or at least I reluctantly came to this understanding when John Green said that his screenplay for Paper Towns would be - and HAD to be - "RADICALLY different from the book").With this is mind, and expectations set appropriately, I excitedly opened the red NetFlix envelope that held Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. I loved the book and was sure that the movie would only bring me back to those contented moments I experienced whilst snuggled up reading. And who could argue with the casting? Michael Cera AND Kat Dennings? Perfect.
Everything was going well, and I was accepting of the changes until suddenly, instead of being about, you know, Nick and Norah and their shared musical passions and whatnot, the movie was about a wild goose chase to find Norah's friend Caroline. That, and, evidently, chewing the same piece of gum all night long, no matter its travels. At least there was some good music - but even then, not as much as I expected.
I was disappointed to say the least. I felt betrayed, not just because the two were SO different, but also because critics had spoken so kindly of the movie. Book aside, it was, to quote my husband, who hadn't read the book "disjointed and a poorly written screenplay, lacking character development...you could tell there was more to it, like things you might know from the book, but it didn't make sense in the movie." I feel like we watched an entirely different movie than the one the critics watched.
