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When I was in high school, back in the late 1800s, I was very into music. I loved all the bands, Bobby Goodsweater, Dino Montgomery and the High Top Cruisers, Lady Buckingham. If one of these musical acts came to town, my friends and I would get into the carriage, and three weeks later, as long as we didn’t break an axle or succumb to a cholera epidemic, we would be right there, sitting in cane chairs, and firing our pistols at the stage. It was a wonderful time in my life, and I think many people can relate to this experience. As any age-appropriate reader of Videogum’s Teen Korner knows, your body at this point in your life is going through a lot of changes, and somehow all of that confusion and excitement is perfectly distilled and enhanced by the music that you are into. Of course, as you get older and the world becomes a dull, gray wasteland through which you push your throbbing anticipation of death through the ash in your proverbial shopping cart (which is your decaying body), this visceral, all-encompassing passion often fades, and music becomes like anything else: a thing that you enjoy when you’re not talking to your therapist about paying taxes. (RIGHT, YOU GUYS? ADULTS!)
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist attempts to capture the whirlwind (and to be honest, mostly whitewind) experience of being a young person for whom indie rock (or whatever music, I suppose) provides an intimate backdrop for your fumbling attempts to one day have sex. And the movie’s perceived awfulness is in direct correlation to how much you relate to the emotions/experiences it is trying to convey.
Nick (Michael Cera) is depressed because his girlfriend Triss (CGI Chipmunk girl from Entourage) broke up with him. He loves her so much, even though we quickly learn that she is a total cunt and has always been a cunt, and so why does this smart and sensitive and interesting young man (I’m using all of htose terms for the purpose of explanation because I am not convinced he is any of them, but you get the point) so obsessed with this living computer-animated nightmare? But so, his two gay friends (right) try to convince him to pull himself together enough for the gig they have that night in Manhattan. Meanwhile, Triss is always making fun of Nick to her friends and throwing the mix CDs he makes her (also, do high school kids actually make each other mix CDs still? HONEST QUESTION FROM A SENIOR CITIZEN!) into the garbage. There is another girl, Norah, who is always pulling the mix CDs out of the trash, and is falling in love for this Nick guy, whoever he is. (Seriously? I mean, I know it is called Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, but pro-tip for moviemakers: don’t make the rest of your movie completely irrelevant and unnecessary within the first five minutes.) The girls are ALSO heading into New York City because everyone’s favorite band, Where’s Fluffy (where’s OOF) are playing a secret show (as if there is any other kind of Where’s Fluffy show!).
OK, so now everyone is in Manhattan, and Michael Cera is playing bass in his band, and he sees Triss, and Norah sees him and blah blah blah, he and Nora kiss, and now Triss is jealous, but most importantly is that everyone is just dying to find out where this Where’s Fluffy (where’s a good band name?) secret show is going to be. Nick’s two gay friends offer to take Norah’s drunk friend home in order to force Nick and Norah to be together and hopefully make out, or something, but then they lose the drunk friend and the rest of the movie is a “madcap” (madcap FAIL) romp (romp FAIL) through the city as they try and find their drunk friend while also finding this elusive (read: stupid) secret show. Eventually, Nick and Norah realize that they like each other instead of their two-dimensional significant others (Triss and Jay Baruchel) and they realize that they don’t even care about Where’s Fluffy (me neither!) and bing bong now they are in love. Also Norah’s dad is really rich, and something something fingerbanging.
The thing about this movie is that I was mad at it from a 17-year-old’s perspective. Like, COME ON. I mean, I wouldn’t care if this movie didn’t appeal to me as a 52-year-old twice-divorced father of three. It’s not supposed to! I’ve got bills to pay and my doctor says we need to start a more aggressive treatment for my condition. But as someone who was, believe it or not, an adolescent himself once, this movie made adolescent me mad. Because even now adolescent me was totally prepared to enjoy this, and instead, adolescent me felt totally pandered to, not to mention lied to, and not to mention treated like a moron.
For one thing, just because adolescent me might enjoy a certain genre of music that might make up the bulk of this movie’s soundtrack AND conversational subjects doesn’t mean that I’m going to just like it just because. You still have to make it good. The Shins won’t change your life, if you catch my meaning. I’m not impressed that Michael Cera has a MERGE sticker on the side of his portable record player, because even adolescent me knows that actually Michael Cera’s Prop Manager has a MERGE sticker on the side of his portable record player. And nothing shows the movie’s disregard for its fans’ actual emotional connection to music like the fictional band Where’s Fluffy. For one thing, that is the worst name. It is worse than Va-Poo-Rize. Second of all, if you’re going to put Where’s Fluffy on the wall in the first act, Where’s Fluffy better go off in the third act. We’ve been along for this adventure too, for whatever reason, so just because Nick and Norah want to leave the show early to get back to fingerbangin’, some of us would still like to see what all the fuss is about.
Third of all, just because a band plays a secret show it’s not actually a weird wild goose chase that doesn’t end until well after 4AM on some rooftop in MIDTOWN. And the location for the secret show isn’t exclusively transmitted via RADIO DJ. Oh, the whole Where’s Fluffy thing makes me SO MAD.
And this movie is a liar. There are so many decisions that the characters make that are such total nonsense, even for a bunch of privileged high school students from New Jersey. Like, at one point, when they are trying to find the drunk friend, Norah hears music in the background, which is actually coming from a cleaning woman’s transistor radio, but everyone goes “Wait, there was music in the background? Then she is definitely at this one club in Brooklyn for sure.” What? I mean, these guys are SENIORS in high school. They are about to go to COLLEGE. I know that it takes a village, but I think by the time you are 17 or 18 years old you know enough to recognize that there is literally music EVERYWHERE.
In another part of the movie, random strangers keep confusing Michael Cera’s tiny yello Yugo for a taxi cab.
NEVER EVER.
In another part of the movie, when Norah decides that she hates her boyfriend, who is hoping that she will get a waitress at a club to waive their bill (because her dad owns a recording studio? Huh?) she goes up to the waitress and says “I think you meant two zeros instead of one.” Uh, no, she didn’t. I mean, there is just a fundamental way that bills for items purchased work. But the waitress is like “oh, yes, OK, two zeros.” Good revenge, Norah. What is this, the fucking Matrix? THERE ARE SPOONS WHERE WE LIVE. AND RESTAURANT CHECKS.
My favorite part of the movie is probably when Michael Cera finally learns that Kat Dennings’s dad is rich and famous and owns this famous music studio, and they are walking through the hallway, and he sees some pictures on the wall of a few of the artists that her dad has worked with:
And then he says “wow.” Because you know how impressed indie rock kids are with people who have met Celine Dion, the Counting Crows, and Billy Joel. Very cool!
Of course, the most famous moment in the movie occurs right after, when Michael Cera fingerbangs Kat Dennings on the studio couch. Whatever, that was the least of this movie’s problems. If anything, that seemed like a pretty realistic moment of teenage sexual experimentation (gross, sorry, jail? I hate this. Why are we talking about this movie again?). I mean, why is that such a talking point and no one had ever mentioned to me the part where A GIRL PULLS GUM OUT OF A PENN STATION TOILET FILLED WITH VOMIT AND PUTS IT BACK IN HER MOUTH?
Why? WHY?
This movie could have been 30 seconds shorter without that moment and no one would have complained. Of course, this movie could have been an hour and a half shorter and not existed and again no one would have complained. Now get out of my room.
Next Week: Thus ends the latest round of nominees. And now, the Hunt for the Worst Movie of All Time is going on Spring Hiatus. What with the Videogum Movie Club season kicking into high gear, and also my eyes suffering from poison-exhaustion, I’m going to take a short break from watching really awful things all the time. I hope you, as fellow HUMAN BEINGS, will understand. But, in the meantime, we have some other fun things planned for the next couple months (TBA!), and the Hunt for the Worst Movie of All Time will be back before you know it.
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graphic courtesy of Lakonislate
Dear Videogum Staff: I once again nominate the 2009 film Amelia, the biopic about aviatrix Amelia Earhart starring Hilary Swank and Richard Gere, for The Worst Movie of All Time. This is a truly awful film.
So. Here we are: at the end of the films for this round. Before too long, the next batch of films will be named. So my heart is filled with a dreadful anticipation, a hope I fear only because it will hurt so much if it is squashed. We shall know with the new list if this film—my nemesis, my archrival, the Gwyneth Paltrow to my Gabe Delahaye—will be eviscerated in WMOAT in the next session. I am elated yet fearful, wary that the giddy, fiery hope I feel at the moment will last for two seconds only to come to a quick, painful end.
But even if it doesn’t—and I sincerely hope it does, but if it doesn’t—I shall soldier on past the disappointment to continue my dogged crusade to have this film exposed in this forum for the pretentious, windy, plotless, intelligence-insulting drivel it is. I shall continue undaunted despite the lump on my head and my life-long fear of broomsticks, toy cars, and fashionable outdoor tables. I shall be here next week and every week with a similar message till this film’s inclusion is secure. Good day and thank you for your time.
This is the best, Werttrew. Diddy even decided to show his support:
You guys planned this, didn’t you?
“Who” was right. Bam! Ya just got Winwooded!
Actually, the word is spelled “whou.” Bam! Ya just got GOOPed!
it’s pretty clear this woman is attempting to destroy her own demon seed by using a toy car (sans seat belt), another of her demon seed equipped with a broom, and outdoor furniture.
the girl in red was an unintentional accomplice.
Yep, I don’t think its happening. Maybe Gabe is letting this whole adventure go. I heard a rumor that you only live once.
I think I’m more sad about taking a break from these gifs than a break from WMOAT posts.
…
Nah, I’m just sad all around.
I’m so nervous for you, werttrew! Pins and needles until WMOAT comes back. This will be the longest month(?) of my life.
That poor kid. I shouldn’t be laughing so much.
Is Gabe purposefully not reviewing Amelia just so we can be treated to more of these?
Also, this movie sounds like it wanted to be After Dark, but ended up being Go.
is that a goat to the left of frame? that family owns a goat.
Or a dog. Goat or a dog. Either way. Pond would probably be better for you.
This film has The National’s “All The Wine” on the soundtrack. Thus it cannot be the WMOAT.
Also, yes, I do still make CD mixtapes for girls I like.
Also, yes, I am still single.
This should win the award for smartest comment.
I am one Smiths reference away from having my life story made into a romance film of this genre.
The impossibly-attractive-yet-somehow-lovelorn-couple-who-are-brought-together-by-an-indie-mixtape genre will be the next Film Noir.
Forget it Jake, it’s Chinese Democracy.
I know! Shouldn’t you get a bye for WMOAT if you have a great soundtrack? New rule? Please?
I would argue that it’s actually worse because they used a great soundtrack to prop up such a terrible movie.
I agree. Movies overuse music to carry the emotion when the film itself just isn’t able to pull it off.
I want someone to make me a CD mixtape!
This film takes The National, drops it in a puke-filled subway toilet, and puts it back in its mouth. Or something like that. The National deserve better.
So does my little brother. He’s never been in a serious relationship, but he’s only 23 and tons of his girl friends have crushes on him, probably in part because of these mix CDs. I think they appreciate the effort. Probably also because he’s super-cute and nice and smart.
Hey San Francisco lady monsters! Date my brother?
I’ll date your brother!
My age in San Francisco eh? Pics, bro.
I still make CD mixtapes. But not for boys I like. Just because I can.
(but I’m also still single, so.)
this whole thread made me smile. i only made a mix cd once. and i kind of wish i hadn’t.
Yes I make mix cds.
Yes I am 19.
Yes I am single.
DATEGUM?
Haha kidding everyone. I have TWO boyfriends! They were both in this movie!
But now I’m gonna break it down and be real with y’all for a second.
This used to be my favourite book. It was so great. This movie IS THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYTHING I LIKED ABOUT IT AND IT ENRAGES ME TO NO END!
Okay I’m done.
xoxo Gossip Girl
Yay book fans! I actually met David Levithan like 2 weeks ago (Does this sound braggy, b/c im not- just excited to share):
Also cameo by my index finger
On the Will Grayson, Will Grayson tour? I’m so jealous!
Yea, it was a lot of fun. I haven’t read WGWG yet though. Class lightens up this week, so I can finally catch up.
I can’t fully trust anyone whose name is so close to being “Leviathan.”
Amazing!
Fun fact? I thought he wrote “To Amie, May all your pants be in front” in your book! Oops! My eyes!
But really. Totes rad.
But really really. May all your pants be in front.
But what DOES it say? I can’t read it :/.
I also enjoyed the book, I finished it in a day.
“To Annie May all your playlists be infinite” Smiley face, squiggly signature
What I want to know is how your index finger got there. You must be holding that book kind of awkwardly right??
I make mixed CD’s for my friend.
Dude, mix mixer! exchange mixes with strangers
http://mixmixer.tumblr.com/
But you can’t (temporarily) abandon the WMOAT now! Transylmania just came out on DVD!
I saw this movie before it was famous.
Woah, so the beginning of the movie and the basis of the film stems from Kat Dennings’ character picking things out of the trash? The movie would have probably been a lot more interesting if framed as an episode of Hoarders.
Surprised she didn’t pick herself out of there then
Also you forget to mention the best part, they run into Devendra Banhart at a convenience store, and it’s not like they’re all I love your music, he’s just there
That’s actually the most realistic part of the movie.
“Devendra Banhart goes to convenience store, runs into teenage girls talking about lack of orgasms.”
Yep, normal.
I wonder if the girl picking the gum out of the puke-filled toilet is a clever comment inserted by the filmmakers on their overall movie. “As Kat Dennings picked Michael Cera out of the trash and put him in her mouth (metaphorically), so did we the filmmakers hoist this movie like used gum out of a crapper full of horrific regurgitation, and without further ado put it in your eyes.” Huh.
“Hey! This has indie music! And Michael Cera! I want to see this!”- No one.
“Hey! This has indie music! And Michael Cera! I want to see this!”–Me when this movie came out
I was young and didn’t know any better you guys.
I feel your pain. Oh, if only I had some sort of gif that could summarize my high expectations and subsequent disappointment.
I think this gif properly visualizes all of our expectations of this movie. Given the premise of Michael Cera, indie music and a quest for a secret show, it was a weird let down to instead get a bunch of assholes, whiny bitches and lots of jokes about his queercore band (because that is still a thing). Is this how you felt, Capu?
I’m not sure if I felt more like the judges or the dancer guy. Perhaps a combination of the two.
I imagined it as us being a judge. You expect to see an awesome frontflip, instead you get a vicious faceplant, i.e. the expectations and subsequent let-downs that are brought on by N&NIP. But then again, the movie does hit you in the face, so yeah, a bit of both.
WHY DO I KEEP WATCHING THIS LIKE THE ENDING WILL SOMEHOW CHANGE?! Gah
I was 32 and didn’t know any better.
Better to keep those high expectations as you age than to assume everything will be awful. Right? Right.
“Hey! This has indie music! And Michael Cera! And I read the book”- me, who owns the DVD. What can I say, in this case I don’t want to know any better
I just kind of assumed it was a remake of The Thin Man. Did you assume it was a remake of The Thin Man?
….sigh.
i love the thin man! i was actually a little mad that they ripped off the nick and norah thing. but then i got distracted by the shiny indie soundtrack and michael cera.
Wait, are you saying “Shin-y” as in “having to do with the Shins” or “shiny” as in “full of luster.” Because really either adjective is perfect.
That was also me, although it turned out to be a passive thought I didn’t act on.
it was totally me, as well. i can’t use the “i was young” excuse though. i am just a sad sad human being.
That’s OK. Some of us had “Singles.” Damn you, Cameron Crowe!
More like half the people I know (knew).
I started watching this, then I realized it wasn’t an Arrested Development spinoff and went back to the Penn Station bathroom where I hang out.
As I type this note, the bottom web banner ad below is a banner advertising the WMOAT with Zack Braff’s ugly face and Rachel Bilson’s pretty face. This ad has been rotating on videogum so consistently that this weekend I watched the movie in question, The Last Kiss, for the explicit reason that Rachel Bilson is pretty. Actually “watched” is the wrong word since all I did was fast forward to those scenes with Rachel Bilson’s pretty face (this has been an exclusive peak inside the secret personal life of Steve Winwood).
ANYWAY, after sort of watching this movie and hurting my brain, I went back and read the Videogum post about it and now I just want to say THANK YOU for eviscerating this terrible piece of shit film. You nailed the horrible lameness of how so many films just assume that normal guys are like this. One thing you didn’t mention was how incredibly weird that one scene was where normal guy Zack Braff and his normal guy friends are sitting around in one of their apartments watching these two lipstick lesbian prostitutes make out with each other naked. Because that is totally something that all normal guy friends do on occasion. Perfectly normal.
Also loved how ridiculous it would be for a guy in his 30s or however old he is to actually want to go to a terrible frat party with a girl who despite being pretty is just an irritating little child. You nailed it. Anyway, thank you. Keep up the great work.
Can we do a, When we saw it: A WMOAT Experience, thread?
It was a Sunday afternoon and my family was grilling carne asada in the backyard, when my sister was like, “I know the perfect movie to put on right now, it’s so raw and SO GOOD!” So after that’s what she said, she put this movie on, and after he fucked Rachel Bilson I asked her what could possibly be his rationale, what would make the whole thing justifiable, when she told me that it’s like real-life, and there are no motives necessary for life. He was just being honest and scared.
That same banner ad is what brought me to Videogum a little over a year ago, and the same pleasure (yuck) I derived from Mr. G tearing that asshole movie a new asshole (or fissure?) is what keeps me stalking this website to this day. Thank you.
Oh Steve, it is so good to read this. WAY back when, I was one of several monsters whose only wish was to have Gabe tear that movie to shreds. It finally happened and we all sighed in relief. I haven’t seen Amelia, I’m sure it’s as terrible as everyone is saying it is, but I also kind of suspect it’s just a run-of-the-mill misguided biopic that maybe is legitimately offensive only to diehard Amelia Earhart fans (of which I’m sure there are literally tens and who all apparently read Videogum). I thought The Last Kiss was so offensive because it tried to represent a demographic, a zeitgeist or collective pathology or something, and it absolutely didn’t, if anything it did a huge disservice to what that movie considered a “generation.” All it did was cast assholes to play assholes who supposedly represent exactly an 18-32 demographic that doesn’t really act the way those characters acted, like at all. I thought, how dare you, Zach Braff? How DARE you, Paul Haggis?
So anyway, your comment just gave me warm feelings, and made me remember when I felt like I had something to really get behind in this world. Now all I have is corporate profiteering in Haiti and neo-Jim Crow legislation in Arizona. Might go read that post again.
Carrie: “I also kind of suspect it’s just a run-of-the-mill misguided biopic that maybe is legitimately offensive only to diehard Amelia Earhart fans.”
I haven’t seen the movie, but based on this interview with the director I am sure it is one of the WMsOAT:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114003628
The interview alone will make you hate.
“”Actually, my direction often would be, ‘Hey, Hil, a little less Amelia please,’ ” Nair says, chuckling.” Well, that just about says it all, doesn’t it?
That is cool that they were able to find Amelia Earhart’s iPod.
That post was how I started consistently reading Videogum. I hadn’t been able to articulate specifically how terrible that movie was, and then Gabe went all insightfulgum and I was hooked.
I know, I know. REFRESH. Well, at least I’m not alone?
Also, Carrie, I totally agree with you.
“Peek,” Winwood. A peek inside.
Exene, do you mind? Maybe you think it’s funny and cute to run around correcting people’s spelling mistakes or grammatical mistakes but mostly it just makes you look like you have no life and you just want to make yourself feel big by making small of others. Stop it. Yeesh.
As an actual high school student, I can say that, yes, we do still make each other cd mixtapes. The more you know!
And thank you so much for this.
a mixtape is only a mixtape if it is literally a mixtape!
signed,
someone who still makes mixtapes even though they are an enormous pain in the ass and no one owns a goddamned tape player anymore. it’s about the SUFFERING and the LABOR and spending 36 hours making it all the songs fit PERFECTLY. (ugh who let me into this party?)
You can cheat by making a 90 minute playlist on the computer (for a 90 minute tape), then divide the songs into two chunks with neither chunk being over 45 minutes (1 for each side of the tape). Then burn two cds. Then hit play on the cd as you hit record on the tape player and VOILA! Now you’re wasting a little less time like a champ!
but i like the process of making the tapes. i like pawing through all of my cd books and starting and stopping and trying to figure out if this certain song really is best placed right after the sam cooke trak or if i should use it as the opener on the other side. there’s something about the start and stop process of making a tape, and the six pack of cold beer that it usually takes, and the false starts and great moments when you finally figure out that the one replacements song that you really love is 1:43 long and you have 1:48 left on the second side and it’s DONE. and i feel like i hold the mixtapes i’ve received in far higher esteem than the mix cds i’ve been given for precisely the reason you gave above- it just takes so much less time and feels less thought out.
I hear you, and I can only speak for me, but I SLAVE over the order of songs when I make the playlists. I see if the outro of a song matches up in a pleasing way with the intro of the one that follows it. I swap out stuff and try and find meaning in the order of the songs’ titles. Ridiculous, OCD shit– that’s what making the tapes this way affords me.
The method I described above probably can save time for some people, but for me it still takes way longer than it should. If I attempted to make mixed cds/tapes by flipping through my cd books, I would be occupied for like, 15 hours. It would be ridiculous.
I don’t think I was ever properly instructed on constructing mixed tapes. That’s what the problem is. The only tip I ever got was from High Fidelity where he’s all like “then you gotta cool it down ‘cuz you don’t wanna blow your load too soon” or whatever. lol
I’m the same way as Chainsaws. I kinda like the fact that you can put as much effort into it as you want and that will, generally, be heard/appreciated. It could be a simple “remember all those songs that we as a group experienced together when we were hanging out that one time?” CD, or an incredibly elaborately choreographed listening experience meant specifically for one person.
Same here… when I was in high school my mix tapes were in high demand because I put so much effort into them. I was also one of the only people who schlepped their entire record (vinyl! because that was all we had then) back and forth to school every year so I had a better selection to hand than most. But my mix tapes were the bomb.
When I started seeing CD mixes from my friends, later in life, I assumed that the same amount of time and effort went into them. When someone finally showed me the process I was like “that’s IT??” I do make mix CDs for myself and others but it’s just not the same. That may be why I’m still single.
since we’re in a serious discussion about all the awesome ways to integrate various eras of recording technology (wait, we are?), i have a fun story about a friend of mine. he has a sweet mid-’70s dodge dart with an 8-track player. in the 8-track player he has plugged an 8-track that’s a cassette adapter, which is basically an 8-track that you can plug a cassette into. so, into that, he’s got one of those cd/mp3 player cassettes with the 1/8″ out. and, he’s got that plugged into his satellite radio. it’s pretty much the most awesome bit of technological ingenuity i’ve ever seen.
That’s pretty bad-ass!
#1 My only tape player is a Teddy Ruxpin-esque Big Bird Doll.
#2 I used to make Mix Cd’s for Friends up through/past college….they included a song list (I know, right? But some people just give you the CD. Why won’t you tell me who I am listening to, HEATHER!) AND a Decorative Sleeve. Sample:
(you have to fold it over and tape/glue it so the CD fits snuggly in its new home. Don’t blame me if it has scratches)
#3 it would take me HOURS/days/weeks as well.
#4 I used to get “seasonal mixes” from my partner when we were not together. He still has my CD of Mixed Messages I gave him when we were broken up for awhile (he doesn’t listen to some songs because they are ‘too sad’)
#5 I was making my sister a mixed CD for her summer trip to New York and she’s all ‘*SIGH* just copy the songs onto a memory stick or give me a list and I’ll Download them myself. *SIGH*’ Spoiled little brat.
I don’t think I really had any real points. I was just sharing how awesome I am. Good luck with your tape editing! I did used to tape songs off the Radio. but that was in Junior High and that was only for me.
The End.
Hell yeah, MR. Hausfrau! I forgot about the album art! I love making album art for my mixes. I got my dad into CAKE a couple years back, and for his birthday I made him a “Birthday CAKE Mix.”
My avatar right now is actually from a mixed cd my friend and I made entitled “Cheese & Chainsaws: Patrick Bateman’s Super-Fun Happy Guide to Dating.”
Man, who doesn’t love Cake?
What songs were included on that one?
Who downvoted me for asking what songs were on the Cheese & Chainsaws mix?
Did you think I was referring to the Cake mix? I wasn’t. I know who Patrick Bateman is and know he probably isn’t a super-fun happy guy to date, but I was curious if KajusX actually made a mix and what songs one would include under such a title. Way to bring me down, guys. Way to bring me down.
I don’t know who downvoted you, angizzle. I upvoted you, but you were still in the negatives. WTF?
Thew mix in question wasn’t thematically anything to speak of. The title was more of an in-joke because this was a mix made after living with my friend for the summer while I was in-between semesters at college. The first things I did that summer were 1) get dumped and 2) read my friend’s copy of American Psycho. My friend actually decided on the playlist, I was involved mainly because I had a computer. But we laughed our asses off once we made the cover (this was around the time it had just been announced that Christian Bale would be playing Batman), and the title to this day makes me laugh, because that scene from the book was so goddamn horrific to imagine.
Sorry, I was born in the nineties. I don’t know what a tape is.
Seriously though, the only tapes I owned were fairytale ones that my mom would play for me at night to help me go to sleep. And I maybe had the Jackson 5 for some reason?
I was born in the 90′s and I remember tapes well, because my mom’s mini-van only had a tape-player and our CD player was often out of commission.
I remember I had a tape of Paul Simon’s Graceland that my dad dubbed from a CD from the library that I would listen to over and over on my Walkman. It’s still my favorite album.
And on the other side of the tape, there were a bunch of Beatles songs. And I didn’t even know who they were or what they were but I do remember singing “Hello, Goodbye” at the bus stop.
#nostalgiagum
When I was 8 and my siblings were 10 and 12, we pooled our allowances and bought our dad Graceland on vinyl in 1986 for Father’s Day. #sapgum
i was actually thinking about this last night as i was looking for a certain loved tape to cook dinner to, and i had a bit of a realization about why i’m so devoted to tapes. i actually didn’t get my own computer until my senior year in college (which was 2005/2006), and now that i own a computer, i still don’t have 75% of my music uploaded to itunes, and i still don’t own an ipod, so i guess for the longest time the only way i actually could share music was by making tapes. so that explains it a bit- i hadn’t actually thought about how my complete lack of technological resources made me a devotee for life. also i drive a junker of a car and it only has a tape player. so. i’m not only old, but i refuse to get with the times.
I have all of my music on mini discs. I was like I should really back this all up but I realized the future is now and I probably already have in my brain.
You know, mini discs?
With all this talk about the love of mix-making, have you guys heard of this mix exchange going on this friday in ny? Looks kind of cool if anyone is interested http://mixmixer.tumblr.com/
I’ll be there with my latest and greatest mix CD. Wish I could still call them mix tapes (sometimes I do Gary, don’t feel bad)
Nostalgiagum: This makes me fond for the days of BNPG past, like “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Deepdish”
Nick and Norah’s Infinite ______, Where _______ is obviously stand in for “fingerbang session”.
All this talk of finger-banging makes me think back fondly to this quote:
“When I was 15 I was doing standup in nightclubs, I smoked reefer from time to time, my friends were selling crack. I was trying to fingerfuck people. I knew what was happening around me to some degree.” -Dave Cappelle
“his two gay friends (right)” -so I thought this was the only plot point that made sense (full disclosure: have not seen the movie). if it was michael cera’s two straight friends trying to lure a drunk girl they don’t know away from her only friend, that would’ve been another one of those borderline rape plotlines WMOATs are so famous for (re:crank). U SEW SENSITIVE NICK AND NORAH.
I’d like to nominate The Pursuit of Happyness for the next WMOAT round. I’ve never actually seen it, but the dude whose memoir is was based is a jerk.
“She is bad at her job.” –that guy to my boss re: me
Despite the fact that that movie was cheesy as hell, and had some really stupid parts like oh this guy can do a rubik’s cube in 15 minutes let’s make him president of the company, but it was very sweet and likable at the same time
Maybe you are bad at your job?
Maybe, but that’s not the point. He said it to be a dick.
Hated this movie so hard. It was so damn repetitive. Plus Will Smith is the worst (with the exception of fresh prince, of course).
one time i spent an evening driving around lexington, kentucky, searching for a secret shellac show. i didn’t find the show or true love that night. sad.
I’m not sure Gabe adequately addressed just how obnoxiously worthless Michael Cera’s character is in this movie. And the movie’s whole plot rests on believing that Nora (by all appearances a fairly interesting and attractive girl) is so totally in love with him that she is willing to deal with what an absolute dick he is the whole movie, so that we can feel warm inside when he finally relents and fingerbangs her in her dad’s shitty music studio. But wait, no, he is a horrible lowlife who any reasonable person would have forgotten about two seconds after meeting him, so the end actually feels like a horrible failure on the part of Norah, and you are left feeling hopeless for women everywhere and, really, the future of all mankind. God, I hate this fucking movie. Where’s Fuck You Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist?
This is sort of my problem with every Michael Cera movie character. I don’t get why we are supposed to root for him ever, he’s just a mumbling hoodie.
Good sir, your name and avatar made a certain someone laugh wholeheartedly tonight: ME!
I don’t get why we are supposed to root for any Michael Cera film character. He’s a mumbling hoodie who never does anything interesting.
True, but sometimes that works. I find it easy to root for him when he is playing an intelligent but nervous loser, like in Arrested Development or Superbad, but the moment a movie suggests that other characters (especially hot female leads) are supposed to perceive him as cool, it instantly loses all credibility.
Youth in Revolt tried to use this dichotomy to its advantage with the “alter-ego” character, but even that didn’t really work. The next movie that looks like it will try to have its Michael Cera cake and eat it too is Scott Pilgrim, which is about a really epically cool loser. I’m hoping that will work.
I just started reading the Scott Pilgrim comics (3-5 are actually winging their way through the air to me as we speak!), and now I am desperately praying that the Michael Cera-ness of the movie doesn’t fuck everything up. Why you gotta do me like that, Cera? Why you gotta make awesome things horrible?
obnoxiously worthless is the new black*
* bad boy**
**obviously
(takes out wallet and begins tapping the photo of a black person for all to see)
Ahem… what was this movie about again?
She’s pretty. Do you have any more pictures of her?
The indie music and Michael Cera got me into the theater, but she kept my ass in the seat.
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Let’s not turn this into grossgum, you guys.
Yikes don’t turn this into creepergum.
Jinx Pepper!
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I am not proud that I am still kinda considering seeing this movie and retitling it in my head “Look at Kat Dennings for 90 Minutes,” but I kinda am.
Looks like Clambone and Steve Winwood see eye to eye and the fact that the words bone and wood appear in the same line should not conjure up any images of one eyed love worms seeing eye to eye, or any such matters.
Yeah, but then you just get increasingly more angry that somehow this very hot and incredibly cool girl is somehow PURSUING Michael Cera. And that’s AFTER he treats her like shit in a couple of scenes. It’s like the director just thought “oh, people love that Michael Cera kid, I don’t have to try at all to make him likeable. They’ll get it.”
yeah, remember that time where he drove off and left his ex girlfriend all alone in the middle of who knows where in the middle of the night? Because, you know, LOVE? Note to film makers: if Elton does it in Clueless, your romantic lead cannot do it.
do it! i cannot even count how many awful movies i have sat through just because there was a pretty guy in it. because i am totally that asshole, and my friends encourage it. c’est la vie.
WOULD KISS
Can anyone who has seen this movie tell me if the controversial finger banging scene is at all graphically depicted and if so, how graphic? JUST CURIOUS!
Not graphically depicted.
YEEAAAaaaaaahhhhhh.
That gum thing was terrible. The worst. and then Kat Dennings puts it in her mouth later!!!! What about that?!
Good gravy Marie! This film was boring and stupid, completely unrealistic, and a girl contracted a terrible disease through a piece of gum and no one did or said anything about it!
vomitgum everywhere.
It also seemed like such a blatant “I want a Trainspotting homage” attempt by the filmmakers. It was 100% unnecessary and terribly off-putting.
I don’t mind seeing a movie about junkies doing fucked up shit like sifting through their own feces in the dirtiest toilet of all time (DTOAT) in an attempt to find their stash of addictive drugs, only to climb all the way in and swim around in a fantasy land.
But in a flick like this with a girl like that doing stupid shit like she did, just. … BLEH. Just BLEH! I had already unboarded the shipwreck this movie was by that point in the film, and when it happened I was aghast with how badly ALL the judgement calls were made in the making of this film, but beyond the point of caring.
vomitgum everywhere
INDEED.
Oh my god. As someone with an aversion to gum in general (that sound you make when you chew it makes my skin crawl, serious) the vomitgum scene is up there with the old woman and her ear porridge from Dead Alive in terms of “things in movies that made nearly made me gag.”
I had to pause it for a bit to regain my composure. . . should have just stopped, always should have just stopped.
Don’t you mean Braindead? Or is there more than one film with auld wans eating ear porridge? My friend vomited when she saw that scene. It was hilarious.
Yup, they are one and the same – Dead Alive was the name on the box at the rental store here at least.
Braindead was the original Australian title of the film. Dead Alive was the American re-marketing name. Fun fact: somehow the producers of LOTR watched this movie and thought “You know what? We should make this guy the director of our epic fantasy saga to be watched by millions.”
#horrornerdgum (I just twittered, right?)
New Zealand. Not Australian.
Michael Cera has been playing high school guys since 2003. I guess he’s still young enough and looks like a high school guy, but that’s a long stretch of high school roles. It more amuses me than anything else, largely because I feel like his primary fan base saw him first on Arrested Development and were, themselves, already beyond high school in 2003… I feel like he should consider making the leap to “college guy” roles at least…
I was in high school during Arrested Development’s three seasons, so I guess in a way I kind of feel like Michael Cera (more the idea than the person) and I kind of grew up together. Like we could’ve been good buds, going to Cluck-U after science class and debating which Elephant 6 band is the best. Now, though, I just look at him and think, “fuck, man. I was FRIENDS with that guy?!”
#extendedmetaphorgum
He’s going to be playing a college-aged guy in Scott Pilgrim. And I think that movie might work for me. I’ve been reading the Scott Pilgrim series and you guys? Scott Pilgrim is an asshole jackass cool loser. So, pretty much perfect casting there, Hollywood. A plus.
How can you not mention the part where Michael Cera leaves his scantily clad ex-girlfriend in poorly lit/sparsely populated parking lot by the Hudson River?! He was such a grade A dink in that movie.
Also Police Commissioner Burrell was reduced to a bus ticket vendor in this movie. This upset me more than it should.
The Invention of Lying, prepare to get nominated for the next round of WMOAT:
…but it has michael cera in it.
Can we limit the c-word usage to once a day? It’s unbecoming.
I agree
seriously?
i don’t understand why it’s okay to call some dude a dick but it’s not okay to call a girl a cunt, even when she is totally acting like a cunt.
You could definitely read the word “cunt” in a misogynistic light, not that that’s entirely what Gabe was doing, but, you know, words mean stuff beyond what anyone intends. Men have historically not been persecuted for being men, so there isn’t really a misoandric (right? sort of?) light.
yeah, i get it. i’m a third wave girl. i took some gender studies classes in college. i read both bust and bitch magazines. i am completely aware of how language can be used to symbolically repress a group of people. but i also get that it’s 2010, not 1970. and as someone who has a cunt, i am officially on the side of calling a spade, a spade, or in this case, a cunt. if a person insists on acting in a manner that stereotypes their gender, i think that person should be called on it, regardless of that person’s gender. that is the gender-equal world that i want to live in. not the one where we tip-toe around girls and refrain from calling out their bullshit because then we might be sexist. fuck that shit.
Not questioning your critical thinking or education, here, dstar. I definitely agree that no one should have to mince their words because of outdated sensitivity and ill conceived notions of propriety, whatever. Cunt may be exactly the right word for the situation.
The word is still designed to hurt a woman, and I’m still trying to figure out what I really don’t like about it. I mean, it’s not because we all need to protect women because they’re frail daisies or whatever. I get uncomfortable with the power part, the intention to hurt, and specifically, to hurt someone that, by saying that, lowers their status, makes them weak, low, disgusting.
I guess it’s just a word. But it does still pack a punch, to me at least, and I think if it does, it should be used with more deliberateness. Gabe repeated the word enough to where it felt like it was being misused somehow. I think?
Now I’m all not sure. I agree with you and I don’t.
i agree that it does pack a punch. that’s pretty much the point. for me it’s situational thing. sometimes it’s okay and sometimes it isn’t. my sister once said to me, “you’re acting really cunty right now.” and it definitely made me stop and think, “yeah. you’re right. sorry about that.” and it was all good. on the other hand, if someone just straight-up called me a cunt without any provocation, simply for being a girl, well i’d probably punch them. HOWEVER i think that videogum, and gabe by extension, is not a place of rampant misogyny. and if gabe wants to call someone [not even a someone, a character in a movie] a cunt, i fully support that move.
and calling something “unbecoming” is the a great way to ignite my oh-fuck-that response.
Fair enough. I wouldn’t give anyone carte blanche, but if I did, Gabe’d be up there.
I think part of what doesn’t feel right about the term, or certainly the way in which it is irreducible to calling a male a “dick,” is that it seems to be specifically associating someone’s yuckiness with specifically being a woman. Being a dick, in our culture, is not only kind of a token of pride, it’s the status quo. In this way, using c**t or p***y as a derogatory word (i can’t even bear to type them out!) specifically taps into this connotation or register where something is bad precisely because it is associated with women. hence, the misogyny claim.
#thirdwavegum
i kind of feel bad that you give those words so much power. that you can’t even type out cunt or pussy because those words tap into something so deep and disturbing in you. and it is absolutely power that you are giving to them. power that you are just handing over to anyone who would use those words against you. words only have the power that we as a society grant them. and that power, though collective, is also individual. i understand the historical and misogynistic implications of the use of the word cunt. and i refuse to give any word that kind of power. because to give a word that much power means to give whoever wields it that power. power to hurt you. power over you. i like to hold on to my power. i’m not going to give it arbitrarily to just anyone. i choose when and to whom.
besides cunt is such a good swear, i’m not about to stop using it. i don’t think they’ll take away my feminist card.
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All this talk about the word “cunt” reminds me of that classic scene from Silence of the Lambs where crazy “Miggs” tells Jodie Foster that he can smell her cunt, which prompts Hannibal Lecter to ask, “What did Miggs say to you? Multiple Miggs in the next cell. He hissed at you. What did he say?” and then Jodie Foster’s all “He said ‘I can smell your cunt.’.” Hannibal Lecter’s all, “I see. I myself can not.” Then he proceeds to tell her every type of soap and perfume she has ever worn in the past eleven years. Ha ha, Hannibal Lecter you old crazy goofball.
I may not be quite as persuasive as wertrew, but I gotta ask again that you consider Sweet November after the break. It’s stupid-ass plot has WMOAT written all over it’s stupid-ass face.
This is an actual screenshot:
Santa hats, clown wigs, bubbles, and puppies. Yep.
…and, yes, Winwood, I know I should have said “its” instead.
Charlize Theron is pretty.
Winwood must be in heat this round.
Sure likes like a MR F in that movie.
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looks like*
Damn, I’ve fallen prey to the keenly grammatical eyes of Steve Winwood!
Is this a lost clip of Charlize Theron when she played Rita on Arrested Development?
I have to second this. I have a tremendous threshold for shit movies, and I had to turn this one off after Keanu Reeves brought Charlize Theron a WASHING MACHINE through her SECOND STORY WINDOW.
It’s true, Gabe–this happens.
but she’s so hot in that movie. That can’t be overstated, I watched that entire POS just to see what she would look like wearing another crazy long scarf. And it was worth it.
That could just as easily be a screen shot from her appearance on Arrested Development.
There are seven people in the Counting Crows. I learned something today.
Gabe, you neglected to mention that in addition to Devendra Banhart, the indie artist Ke$ha had a cameo in this film.
This was before she got all mainstream.
Her face annoys the pup out of me. The main girl.
I think she is pretty.
2006 – Garden State
2007 – Juno
2008 – Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
2009 – (500) Days Of Summer
2010 – ?????
Scott Pilgrim, totes.
Y’know, I’ve seen all four of those films, and Garden State is the worst and 500 Days Of Summer* is the best. So in fact this particular sub-genre is improving.
*Pretentious parentheses be damned
I hated all but one of these movies…
Sex and The City 2: We All Listen To Joy Division Now!
Uncle Winwood’s Infinite Jest. Featuring an all Belle & Sebastian soundtrack?
I haven’t seen this movie, or plan to ever see it but, if I’m following Gabe correctly, she pulls his mix-cds out of the trash? No one would do that, EVER. Lets say I picked up a cd I found, and the person had good taste! Cool? It’s very possible there would be nothing else to talk about, among other things. Fuck this movie.
“I am so glad that blonde girl keeps tossing these CDs in this exact same spot on regular intervals, because it allows me to disgustingly pick through the other people’s filth to pick them out and imagine the kind of guy who ALSO likes Vampire Weekend and We Are Scientists as much as I do… because he speaks to my heart.” – This completely sane girl.
If I see a CD in the trash, I just assume it’s an AIDS CD.
So Gabe, are you telling me New York City ISN’T 4 AM fingerbanging at famous recording studios? Cause I was under the distinct impression that’s EXACTLY what it is.
This was, and remains, the only movie I’ve ever nominated for WMOAT. I stopped watching halfway through — just after the pukegum scene (hey, I have a website idea) — because my body literally couldn’t handle it. And every moment, the only thought running through my brain was: Gabe needs to see/discuss/rip on this.
Also, am I the only one who didn’t regularly go into the city at age 17 searching for idiotic secret shows by idiotically named indie bands? Was that a normal thing that normal people did, and I’m just a weirdo?
my mom wouldn’t let me get home at 6 am at 17
i was at boarding school in indiana when i was 17. we weren’t even allowed out of the dorm after 11:30 on weekends. and then we had to be on our gender segregated floors by midnight. sometimes my roommate and i stayed up until dawn though.
Honestly the things that bugged me most about this movie when I saw it were Union Pool being barely disguised as “Brooklyn Pool” and the Where’s Fluffy? (more like Where’s BARF-y?) show finally being on a rooftop in MIDTOWN and all these radio DJs giving directions, what is this 1996? Also, they went to that deli on Broadway and 10th or something where apparently Devendra Banhart likes to hang out and give out sexual advice? And then they showed an exterior shot of the Regal Cinema at Union Square, where I was inside, watching the movie. (So maybe my problem is that I saw this in theatres.) But yeah, now that you all mention it, Michael Cera’s character is definitely a class A dick.
Even at 90-minutes, they should have called this thing ‘Nick and Norah’s Infinite Jest,’ okay?
something, something, “Great Concavity”.
I kind of love the way the band keeps giving out directions to the “secret gig” via RADIO, partly because of how ridiculous it is and partly because I don’t want to watch Michael Cera check his Twitter account for more info every few minutes.
To be completely honest, the thing that bugged me the most about this movie was Nick’s mixes:
Nobody has ever made a mix that looks like that ever! Stop making the mix CDs I make look like they’re made of garbage, fictional movie!
“Road To Closure Vol.12″, ROFL.
You should realize that students in high school movies never have homework or any form of responsibility, hence why they can spend hours making great mix CDs, and chase horrible bands around the city on… a school night? Whatever!
I do, in fact, make mix CDs that look like that. Lucky high school asshole that I loved.
Did Gabe go to high school in Deadwood?
In Gabe’s day, almost no one finished grade school because they all had to skip to help out with the trampoline harvest.
I once had a neighbor who claimed he had drank his own piss on a dare (while drunk). I don’t think even he would have picked his gum out of vomit and continued chewing it.
there was a guy at my school who drank his own urine for something like $13. because that is exactly what “gifted” boys get up to when left to their own devices. to this day, whenever someone mentions him, someone else inevitably says, “isn’t that the kid who drank his own urine?” you never live some things down.
Everyone’s going on and on about this gum thing.
GUYS: WHAT IF IT WAS BIG LEAGUE CHEW?
I knew when I saw the trailer for this movie that it was going to make me mad, but I couldn’t figure out whether to be ashamed of being mad about it or not. I’m glad that both adolescent me and adult me now have clearance to hate it. Thanks for justifying my hatred, Gabe!!!
I can’t be the only one who thinks this entire movie sounds like a “hipped up” version of that 90210 episode where Brandon and Dylan ended up buying a single egg at the 7-11 in order to discover the location of a SECRET RAVE.
Or I could be.
U4EA! The one where Brandon gets high on the imaginary drug UFEA/Euphoria. Were they not allowed to say ecstasy on TV in 1991?
I was thinking of the exact same episode when I read this.
Jeez…. this obscure television memory has been rattling around my brain for 15 years. I use it as an obscure reference whenever me and friends are going to a hip party. So, I’ve never really used it. But I think about it!
You think you’re the only one huh? Wasn’t it Steve and *Andrea* who ended up on that particular part of the goose chase together, I might have that wrong though? Brandon went to the rave with that drug-slipping firebug Emily Valentine and his sister and her stupid friends. BH 90210 was such a clearinghouse for useful drug information, if it didn’t last for most of a season you knew it was going to be bullshit e.g. U4EA and much later when Steve smoked weed with his great friend Dick and the next eipsode Dick was dead from a heroin overdose. Because that’s what happens.
I love that the *’s actually reminded me to pronounce it as Ahn-dre-a.
Everybody who accuses Michael Cera of playing Michael Cera in the same movie needs to get ready for the ultimate cinematic masterpiece…
I would so watch that movie.
I think niccageaseveryone is so 2009. We need michaelceraaseveryone now…
thank you for using the terrible font that must not be named.
Not to be all Steve Winwood on you Gabe, and maybe even to shield him from you, but you have “htose” in your 3rd paragraph . But you know, no pressure/criticism. Just one monster pointing out a common mix up to another monster
Guys. I would like to nominate THE HAPPENING for the WMOAT.
It’s probably the worst major studio release of the 2000s. It has to be seen to be believed.
it’s the trees! i hate how it’s completely obvious like 15 minutes into the movie what is “happening” but the movie pretends for like another hour how you are not supposed to have figured it out yet.
MORE REASONS TO CONSIDER THE HAPPENING…
>The fantastic dialogue: “WHY YOU EYEIN MA LEMON DRINK!”, “Cheese and crackers…”,
>Mark Wahlberg talking to a plastic plant
>The funniest death scenes ever committed to film (feeding oneself to lions, walking up to windows and smashing your head against them, combine harvesters, etc.)
>Mark Wahlberg in a hilariously high pitched voice
>Appalling attempts at “comic relief”
>M. Night Shyamalan’s career destruction
until that happens maybe this will hold you over:
http://videogum.com/26331/mark_wahlbergs_cough_syrup_sol/movies/really-bad-movies/
i wanted to like this movie but hated it for all reasons stated above. also i hated it as a NYC resident. At one point they’re at Arlene Grocery and find out that WF might be at Mercury Lounge so they GET IN THEIR CAR AND DRIVE THERE.
These clubs are one block apart from each other. If they hadn’t mentioned them by name it might be one thing, but you know… if you’re gonna try and be real, do play by the rules.
As bad as this movie is Gabe, you have no idea how many people I have almost offended by saying this movie sucks. I’m about to badmouth it, say something very terrible, and true about the movie, only to have someone I know say: “What? You didn’t like it?” close to tears, to which I reply, “No, it was okay, I guess,” and they wipe their tears away, and I feel better knowing that I haven’t shattered their lives, and everything they live for.
Truth: Only half of my above comment is hyperbole. Seriously, people like this stuff? Yuck.
the thing that bugged me most about this movie is the Big Dipper anthology (printer paper?) cut-out on Nick’s wall in the beginning next to his Arcade Fire (printer paper) cut-out. i didn’t believe for a second that this character actually liked or knew Big Dipper at all, and by the end, i still couldn’t.
Movie Producer/Writer/Whatever: Uhh, MERGE is a label these kinda kids like, right?
Other Movie Producer/Writer/Whatever: I dunno, yea? i think i’ve heard of it, too.
Movie Producer/Writer/Whatever: Okay cool, let’s ask MERGE if they’ll fill our movie with advertisments for MERGE and then it will seem like we “get it”.
whatevs
Other Movie Producer/Writer/Whatever: “I don’t know, we already have Counting Crows, Celine Dion and Billy Joel. I don’t want to overstate anything.”
Damn… reading this reminded me of The Girl Next Door, which would be very nice as a nomination. It’s kind of cute because of the romance between the guy and the girl, but beyond that the whole movie is wtf over and over again. I don’t know if you want to subject yourself to watching it to find all the reasons, but Elisha Cuthbert makes up for it at least in part.
I just noticed something interesting (probably only interesting to me): when Videogum veers into the music world, like in this thread, the comments are always funnier and more insightful than the comments made on Stereogum. Stereogum is great. We all know that. Nevertheless, I would argue that the comments on Videogum–even (and maybe especially?) when they pertain to music–are just better.
It’s because we’re all dilettantes and not full-time indie hipsters.
i saw this fucking movie in the goddamn theater. Giant puke gum…ugh.
Also what the fuck they didnt even show the band in the end. So all that fucking build up about music and this band, and Michael Cera’s band sounded halfways decent
whooops didnt mean to post halfay before my comment was done!
i saw this fucking movie in the goddamn theater. Giant puke gum…ugh.
Also what the fuck they didnt even show the band in the end. So all that fucking build up about music and this band, and Michael Cera’s band sounded halfways decent and then….nothing. WHAT THE FUCK NICK AND NORAS INFINITE PLAYLIST
i for one feel there were not enough records in this movie, it could have used more records
I liked this movie.
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Nope. Sorry. The movie and the book are great (or at the very least they’re enjoyable).
Agreed, its a great movie, probably not for everyone, but certainly not a bad movie by any account. Plus the argument that it spawned terrible knock-offs cannot be faulted to the movie itself. That’s like blaming “Dungeons & Dragons” and “In The Name of the King” on LOTR or saying Coming to America was to blame for every other Eddie Murphy movie where he plays ten characters. It’s not their fault studios want to cash in with terrible movies, so no to High Fidelty.
high fidelity. I don’t wanna call it the original but I do believe it was the original, and there was no beatin’ around the bush if he was an asshole or not. 100% asshole
Another thing I hated about this movie, in addition to the many things Gabe and the Monsters have mentioned, is the haughty Only-In-New-Yorkishness. “Kids who live and/or hang out in New York are just so much more hip and cosmopolitan and grown-up (where grown-up=AWFUL, apparently) than kids in the rest of the country.” – This movie.
And even if there are 16-year-olds in Manhattan who are this sophisticated/awful, as I’m sure there are, then shouldn’t that sophisticated awfulness be a deterrent for letting your 16-year-old kids drive into Manhattan unsupervised? If NYC Prep taught me anything (other than: don’t watch NYC Prep) it’s that maybe being a privileged white kid in NYC and “growing up faster” as a result isn’t necessarily a good thing. It’s like the people who made this film assumed its New York setting would, just like its hip indie soundtrack, automatically give it a certain cachet with starry-eyed teenagers.
Why can’t there be more movies about kids in flyover country doing relatable teenage things like loitering in front of convenience stores and playing Magic: The Gathering? And maybe having bigger problems than living in the shadow of your famous record producer dad and deciding whether or not you should go to fucking Brown?
Oh, but they do, and it’s called Suburbia.
The last line is supposed to say: “Oh, but there are such movies, and they’re called Suburbia.”
That’s what I get for being from flyover country.
So, from time to time I teach high school students. And I love music, and I used to make mix disks when I was in High School, so I thought it was be a cool hip thing to do to make each student in my class a mix disk of music I thought they would enjoy that I was sure they had never heard before. So, I made this awesome mix disk, with really cool CD art. So I surprised the class by handing them all out at the end of class. I drove home that night and went to bed with the smug joy of knowing I had shared something special and that they were all going to think I was the coolest teacher ever. The next morning I woke up and went into the living room to find a stack of CDs sitting by my computer. I realized that the CDs I handed out where nothing more than blank discs with cool labels, and the disks I had burned were on a pile on the other side of my desk.
The saddest part is that none of my students ever said anything about it. Jokes on them though, because they probably threw away a perfectly decent $0.85 CDRs, and somewhere there is no doubt a homeless chick that is secretly in love with me.
Someone should make a movie about this story.
words cannot adequately explain how much i hate this damn movie. you, sir, are my favorite person on the internet today.
My first date was to this movie, only I wasn’t sure if it was a date (you’d think the fact that he chose this movie would have tipped me off, but no) and then the fact that all the characters were gay made it really awkward to talk about afterwards. A week later I made him a mix cd and went to jail for being such an indie gay stereotype.
I hate to be so literal, but was this tune included on Nick and Norah’s titular “infinite” mixtape?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Slow_As_Possible
Just trying to be consistent here, hollywood movie machine!
John Cage blows my mind!!!
This one goes out to a special lady I made mixtapes for once.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpPlzeK7RM
I read this book when I was sixteen. The movie came out when I was seventeen. It is honestly the worst piece of shit I have read and watched. Everyone is so fucking annoying and self indulgent and just super stupid. Also I found myself shaking my head and saying white people more times than I cared to.
Oh also I actually fell asleep during the movie and my best friend swears up and down by it (shame, I know) but in the book Norah was complaining about how hard it was to be rich. I’m assuming it’s the same in the movie. Or something.
The movie sucks but worse than Juno? neh
I used to live around the corner from the Grey’s Papaya they filmed a scene in from of. I was so relieved when I moved, every time I saw that Grey’s Papaya I got Vietnam-style flashbacks of this awful, awful movie.
Guys, you guys: I laughed out loud so many times reading this that I CAAJTTYS’d! (Created An Account Just To Tell You So.) Good job – GREAT job. Also, hellogum!
“The Shape of Things,” and it’s special badness. These WMOATN are often unfunny clowns. “The Shape of Things” is an actual worstness (that’s a word now), because it is genuinely intelligent but horrifyingly misguided in its understanding of human morality and humanity itself. That all makes sense — all the smart people will understand it.
Oops. I thought this was a film about the time Sufjan Stevens put one, two, three fingers in my vagina.
Ok so I skimmed the comments to make sure no one mentioned this and I didn’t see it. The most baffling thing to me about this movie was how in the hell that girl stayed drunk for so long?? I mean this movie supposedly takes place over the course of several hours, and we know she throws up at least twice. Something must be wrong with her metabolism? I mean we never see her drink again after the party until the show on the roof. That’s just not how drinking works.
Dear Gabe,
I will miss WMOAT during it’s absence. You are hill-arious. Come back soon.
I just realized that several of the movies in The Hunt have prominently featured mix CDs at plot devices. Has there EVER been a good movie that references or displays mix cds/tapes? I can’t think of any.
I realize this is in direct contrast to my previous comments, but High Fidelity is the answer.
I just wanted to comment to move up the number of people who commented in here. Yay almost 300 comments!
I always thought this movie was about some kind of magic iPod, which would be stupid, thus I never watched it. Thanks for informing me that it’s stupid for entirely different reasons and is actually about fingerbanging! i never would have known without TWMOAT. Videogum: The More You Know!
I nominate Stealing Beauty starring Liv Tyler. Yes, starring her. It is so many kinds of psuedo-art house woefulness. The tagline is ‘The most beautiful place to be is in love.’ *It BURNS!!!*
How many more years can Michael Cera pull off this ‘awkward’ heartthrob persona? He probably didn’t even know what to do with Dennings’ beautiful rack.
“In Dreams”. Please, please, “In Dreams”. it’s not just incoherent, it’s *exceptionally* incoherent, art directed within an inch of its life, and features a “dramatic” scene where Annette Bening has a mental breakdown while frantically shoving an absurd amount of apples down a garbage disposal. Because symbolism.
Wait! Waitwaitwait! I had to stop trolling and finally log in to point out that Gabe posted the trailer for the amazing Nicolas Cage movie “Knowing” when it first came out, but I don’t remember it ever being considered for WMOAT! It is a serious, serious contender for WMOAT. For reals.
I would like to nominate “Phone Booth” as one of the worst movies of all time.
How about “Surveillance” by Jennifer “man, do i hate cops but sympathize with little girls” Lynch.
i’d love to see that one analyzed…by piranhas that is!
i loved this film, i cant believe that you guys are haters!
Also, if it’s not too late: MONKEYBONE. The single worst and least enjoyable movie I have ever seen in my life.
How long until the next round is announced? I can’t procrastinate properly at work until the Hunt is back!
the master of disguise is my nomination for worst movie of all time. it is definitely the one.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0295427/
who thought this was a good idea? even now i can still picture how freaking stupid the “turtle turtle” joke was. review this.
MASTER OF DISGUISE = AWFUL
So I just watched Valentines Day last night (starring Topher Grace!), and spent the entire 2 hours gnashing my teeth and yelling at the screen. It is the third-worst movie I have ever seen, after Howard the Duck and The Punisher (2004). Wow. Seriously, it has to be seen to be believed. It’s infuriating.
There isn’t a SINGLE true, honest or believable moment IN THE ENTIRE MOVIE. Not one. Even the elevators are liars. When was the last time you saw an elevator where if you blocked the doors to, say, kiss your girlfriend, the doors would just stop dead and not, y’know, OPEN UP AGAIN? NEVER. THAT DOESN’T EXIST.
I worked in shitty local TV news for the better part of 6 years. If you need someone to go out and do streeters, you don’t send your SPORTS REPORTER. That’s insane. You send out a camera guy; he’s perfectly capable of asking people questions. It’s not like man-on-the-street clips need any sort of stand up to introduce them. Arg. And apparently, they’re LIVE HITS!?! The station is just cutting to Jamie Foxx or (spoiler alert!) his cameraman-cum-reporter live on location ALL DAY LONG?!? Where is their live truck? And WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT LIVE STREETERS ON VALENTINES DAY?! And the station doesn’t have any security, either?! Some random woman can just waltz in the front door (claiming to be the sports reporter’s girlfriend?) and hang out anywhere she wants? In fucking LOS ANGELES!??? Even at our shitty local station, you needed to be buzzed in by security and escorted around.
Anyway, imagine 2 hours of bullshit, fake clichés like that; it’s like the writer(s) have lived their entire lives in a fucking steel box and have only learned about “life on the outside” by watching other shitty “romantic” “comedies”…
So, um, I notice that you haven’t been doing the WMOAT lately… is this even a thing any more? have I just wasted 5 minutes of my precious time writing this…?
Please PLEASE PLEASE! I have been waiting for an update for a very long time. But, choose VIRUS starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Billy Baldwin. It’s set at sea circa 1999 and I am not making this up: robots infiltrate a russian science ship and kill all the crew and TURN THEM INTO HUMAN/ROBOTS!
I have two nominations for Worst Movie of All Time:
1. Only You – Robert Downey Jr. and Marisa Tomei romantic comedy, featuring Marisa Tomei as the biggest asshole ever to fly to Italy two weeks before her wedding to meet her soulmate (a total stranger) because a Ouija board told her something or other when she was 11. Features the line “I was born to kiss you!” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110737/)
2. Code 46 – Directed by Michael Winterbottom who is usually awesome, thereby making this failure even more spectacular. This movie really loses me when it tries to convince me that it’s ok for Tim Robbins to have sex with a clone of his mother because they’re ~*~in love~*~ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0345061/)