Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, out this weekend, is a charming entry into a time-honored movie subgenre: the One Crazy Night movie. You know the type: Over the course of one incredible evening, our heroes will drive around, find adventure, listen to some tunes, and maybe — just maybe — fall in love. Nick and Norah features all the hallmarks of the classic One Crazy Night movie. It’s got an unexpected hero who steals the show: Norah’s drunken best friend, played by Ari Graynor. It’s got authority figures to rebel against: Norah’s unseen father, some kind of record-company bigwig. It’s got wild late-night encounters (with pantsless altar boys, Devendra Banhart, and a vomit-filled Port Authority toilet). And it ends, as all One Crazy Night movies should, the quiet morning after, with dawn just breaking over Manhattan.
For all their flaws — formulaic storytelling, crude caricatures, senseless wackiness — One Crazy Night movies often becomes generational touchstones. We’ve come up with our ten favorites, after the jump — and it was hard to narrow it down. Believe it or not, we didn’t even have room for Adventures in Babysitting!