Like the mix tapes that obsess its main characters, "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" builds into something of infectious joy. The night-in-the-life romantic comedy stars Michael Cera and Kat Dennings as the title characters, high school students who share rarified tastes in music but wildly different temperaments. Nick, the only straight member of a queercore band, still harbors feelings for his pop tart of an ex-girlfriend; Norah, who crosses paths with Nick while they're both looking for a secret show on Manhattan's Lower East Side, can't hide her disdain. "I could floss with that girl," she half-purrs, half-growls.

Dennings's deadpan delivery of such lines accounts for much of "Nick & Norah's" low-key charm; her smoky lower register is the perfect counterpoint to Cera's wispy contralto. As the two make their way through the smiles of a New York night -- contending with a drunken best friend, a skeevy sort-of ex-boyfriend and constant comment from a gay men's Greek chorus -- they bicker, confide, criticize and ultimately find true love, propelled by cuts from Band of Horses, We Are Scientists and Devendra Banhart (who has a cameo).

If some of the set pieces feel forced, and a shtick of gum panders too heavily to the target audience's love of a good gross-out, "Nick & Norah" possesses an inescapable, winsome appeal. It's an alt.romance, dedicated to the B-side of love.

-- Ann Hornaday (Oct. 3, 2008)

Contains teen drinking, sexuality, profanity and crude behavior.