Victoria Justice to Star in Indie Rom-Com

Looks like this Nickelodeon star can consider herself Victorious: singer/actress Victoria Justice will star in Naomi + Ely's No Kiss List, an upcoming indie romantic comedy based off a popular YA novel by Rachel Cohn and David Leviathan. Justice will play Naomi, an NYU freshman who falls for the same guy as her childhood best friend and longtime love, Ely (Pierson Fode), despite the fact that Ely's gay.

We have high hopes for Naomi + Ely, due to the fact that the first film adaptation of a Cohn-Leviathan novel, 2008's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, was one of the smartest, funniest movies of that year. If Naomi + Ely's even half as good, it'll probably still be better than half of the rom-coms made this decade.

It's also exciting to see Justice, who's primarily known for her family-friendly role on Victorious, take on a more mature role than we're used to seeing. The plot may sound lighthearted, but the topics it takes on — long-lasting friendships, the beginning of college, accepting one's sexuality — are serious stuff. And Justice, whose most recent forays into film, the Halloween flop Fun Size and box office bomb The First Time, both released in 2012, is deserving of some good material. Hopefully, Naomi + Ely will live up to the book and give Justice a quality role.

Naomi + Ely's No Kiss List will be directed by Kristin Hanggi (Broadway's "Rock of Ages") and is written by Step Up 3D's Amy Andelson and Emily Meyer.