I don't understand the last lines of this film. What is the "it" that Nora asks Nick if he's sorry that he missed?

Thanks,
Doc

You're looking at this little movie through a microscope. No one outside a tiny minority care about the licensing age, correct tunnels, etc. Most viewers forget a movie right after they walk out. It's escapist fluff for those who like Michael Cera, and pretty darn good fluff. Teens and adults (I'm one of those) have enough sense to draw the line between movies and reality. I realize you must write about something, and try to make it meaningful, but this movie is not psychoanalyzable.

I really enjoyed the book and felt like the connection with the characters was not a connection with the events of the night (realistic or otherwise) but rather a connection with the thoughts and feelings of the characters during those events. I didn't wander NYC during my teen years, but I did go to parties, shows, coffee houses, late night Denny's/IHOP trips and the like. I met girls, felt a connection, lost the connection, felt frustrated, reconnected, etc…

Maybe teens who are currently living through their teen years see it differently. Maybe they see the actual events of the evening as what to aspire to and if they aren't having those kind of adventures they are missing out. For me, though, I felt like I wasn't as weird as I might have thought. I haven't had the literal experience they had, but I've had the intellectual/emotional equivalent at some point. Only the details were different.

I think if I were still 18 and reading this book, I would wish that I had adventures exciting as Nick and Nora's, but I hope that I would have still seen beyond that and been able to say, my adventures may not be as glamorous as theirs, but I understand where they are coming from and can see some of myself in them.

First on the driving age. The laws about driving ages are still fairly recent and fairly unique to this part of the country. NJ has fairly strict driving laws that do go against a lot of the traditional view of what a teenager can do in the rest of the country.

Both authors and the screen writer are even older then myself (25) and so when they were teens these new driving laws were around. And when I was a teen many people would drive in to the city. Especially if it was for a show as the Buses stop running. which is a big problem for Norah is she lives in Englewood Cliffs. Also bands need some way to get their equipment around the city.

At this moment in time perhaps it is harder for a teen to legally drive around NYC but it wasn't always that way and it doesn't make much sense to talk about NJ's crazy driving laws in the movie. I would give a break to the writers here just since these laws barely more the 5 years old. Just like when Nick "drives in to NYC" when he is clearly driving out of the Lincoln Tunnel. It's annoying to us Jersey folk but it's mostly just movie magic.

When it comes to all the crazy places they go it seems to me that is all explained. The only reason they get to those places is cause Norah is known as the daughter of a famous record exec. This does not seem to be that absurd to me. It's not pedestrian but it's not fantasy either. And if you've seen the housing prices in Englewood Cliffs then I feel that her situation is not that far out of bounds.

I personally don't think this movie is so fantastical (orgasm aside which has both good and bad points).

Personally I disagree that there are only two choices of fantasy-escapism and the characters where you personally identify with. I think you can view someone's life who is different then your own and enjoy it with out needing to emulate it or write it off as pure fantasy.

My last note is on SuperBad which is mentioned at the end about a movie that teens can identify with. A movie I also super loved and consider it to be the Can't Hardly Wait of modern times. SuperBad is super fantastical with very little basis on reality. Wild plot points that are held together only with suspension of belief. I don't think the fantasy part takes away from the life lessons but I think it's hard to use as a counter point to Nick and Norah.