Nick & Norah's Realistic Portrayal Of Teen Sex

Prescient soothsayer Richard Lawson over at Gawker was totally right in his irrational hatred of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist: it is a quarterlifer's false idealization of his or her generic suburban teenhood. However, having seen the movie I need to defend one instance where Nick and Norah becomes a completely realistic portrayal of New Jersey-bred nerds. When Nick and Norah finally consummate their movie-long sexual tension, their hookup is exactly the the way two indie rock obsessed 17-year-olds would get down in real life. The sordid details (minor spoiler alert) after the jump!

So, Norah (Kat Dennings) takes Nick (Michael Cera) to the studio her dad owns on New York's Lower East Side. Nick is fondling a sweet Stratocaster but making goo-goo eyes at Norah. Norah decides to take matters into her own hands (quel surprise!) and makes a move on Nick. They start making out and the camera pans off them. Nick makes some cute comment about how her pants are hard to unbutton, and Norah makes some satisfied orgasm noises and the camera pans back to them in post-fingered bliss.

While most movies about teens show them ripping off all their clothes and fornicating pornily after 30 seconds, Nick's awkward third-base meanderings are so much more like what happens with real seventeen-year-olds in the flush of their first hook-up with a new person. Norah later admits she's only kissed one other person before, and this is additionally realistic, as she's brainy and goes to an all-girls school. Also, I've never seen a movie where someone got fingered (well, except for Reese Witherspoon in Fear, and that's on a rollercoaster and then Marky Mark ends up being a terrifying stalker). And also! Norah doesn't touch his penis, and I was glad that for once, a teenage girl is shown getting some pleasure. Far too often teenage girls in narrative cinema and television are only allowed to have the pleasure of a sexual experience if they are later punished with a pregnancy (or having their boyfriend turn into a terrifying stalker).

Final verdict on the film: moderately amusing, good soundtrack, accurate portrayal of teen sex.

Earlier: Why I Already Irrationally Hate Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
The Earnest Fumbling Manchildren Of Film Make Crappy Boyfriends

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