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The 2008 film is nowhere near as complex or charming as the 2006 YA book. The style of the book just doesn't translate well to film and loses much of its intimacy and subtlety. The characters are pared down into simplistic components: gawky, emo Nick; shy, self-deprecating Norah; and spoiled, cookie cutter bitch Tris. Tris who is more "frenemy" than nemesis in the book is an out and out bad guy here and that is definitely to the detriment of the overall story. The other members of Nick's band, the Jerk Offs, become charming, if irresponsible, sidekicks who manage to lose Norah's best friend, Caroline, in a painfully constructed, gross, extraneous and somewhat slapsticky addition to the plot.
Much is changed from the novel to make it more friendly to a movie going audience - the book is very insular, traveling between the inner monologues of Nick and Norah - but, again, to the detriment of the overall story. The film flails around quite a bit and turns out to be alot less emo indie than its origins or the New York cityscape would like you to believe.
Kat Dennings is passable as Norah, capturing the awkward insecure grace notes of book Norah's defensive and angry shell. The cracking of that shell is part of the appeal of the novel as we watch Nick and Norah get under each other's skin. Norah has lost her fire, but still Nick gets to experience that dawning realization that he's begun to fall for another girl. Micheal Cera's Tris obsessed Nick still isn't as effectively cool and hipster as book Nick, but he's cute and we like him. Dennings and Cera play pretty well together, hemming and hawing their way towards mutual affection.
I might have been more satisfied if I hadn't read the book, but I doubt it. The movie I found disjointed and, at times, all over the place. The ending, however, was satisfying in its undemanding way and I smiled my way through the last five or so minutes.
Much is changed from the novel to make it more friendly to a movie going audience - the book is very insular, traveling between the inner monologues of Nick and Norah - but, again, to the detriment of the overall story. The film flails around quite a bit and turns out to be alot less emo indie than its origins or the New York cityscape would like you to believe.
Kat Dennings is passable as Norah, capturing the awkward insecure grace notes of book Norah's defensive and angry shell. The cracking of that shell is part of the appeal of the novel as we watch Nick and Norah get under each other's skin. Norah has lost her fire, but still Nick gets to experience that dawning realization that he's begun to fall for another girl. Micheal Cera's Tris obsessed Nick still isn't as effectively cool and hipster as book Nick, but he's cute and we like him. Dennings and Cera play pretty well together, hemming and hawing their way towards mutual affection.
I might have been more satisfied if I hadn't read the book, but I doubt it. The movie I found disjointed and, at times, all over the place. The ending, however, was satisfying in its undemanding way and I smiled my way through the last five or so minutes.
