I agree with SaburoChaos quite a bit, but feel like adding a few thoughts.

1. This movie was very possibly made around the soundtrack. Good soundtrack. Predictably indie soundtrack. Sit, soundtrack, sit!

2. Zooey’s character was so oddly marvelous. There was something genuinely admirable about her terrible habits. She snorts coke, uses men, repels book editors and solicits hugs, and it all seems a bit glamorously tragic. Y’see, she’s a pained soul! A soul in pain! A painy soully goo! She’s an indie culture icon, which is simultaneously appealing and appallingly commercialized.

3. To say that Will Ferrell plays it straight in this movie… well, that’s generous. You get the same kind of patient pity between Reese and Corbit as you get between… whatsherface and Elf Ferrell. It works. Oh, I’m not saying it doesn’t work. Still, nothing shocking here.

4. The shots are often perfect, the pacing is great, and the characters change realistically – the last item being my movie deal-breaker.