The Spectacular Now was one of those movies that, before watching it, I thought I was going to be stupid, then I thought I would love it, and ultimately wouldn’t know how I would feel about it until its conclusion. This was based on the movie’s trailer. Then as I began watching the movie, I thought the same things. Had I seen this exact movie before? Probably. Was it going to be filled with cliche after cliche after cliche? Most definitely. Was there going to be some sort of twist or reaction to an event that would separate it from the other movies in this genre that I had seen before? I hoped so. Was the acting good enough and the characters believable for me to think I was part of a real story and not just watching a melodrama played on the screen? Probably not. With all of those things said, it’s a cute little film that I recommend watching, especially if you are in the 17-22-year-old range.

So I guess Miles Teller is one of the next big things in comedic acting? I’m not sure. A quick look at his filmography shows that he’s been in a couple of the raunchiest, somewhat controversial comedies of the last few years (21 and Over, Project X). His next movie is also an R-rated called That Awkward moment which co-stars Zac Efron and Michael B. Jordan. I hope he isn’t pigeonholing himself too early in his career like Michael Cena, but Jonah Hill has seemed to avoid it. This is my first exposure to Teller, and I’m not sure what to make of him yet. Sutter Kelly, the quirky, engaging high school senior protagonist, does a pretty decent job portraying the character who he is at the start of the film and the character who he is at the end. But I’m not sure about his transformation over the 95-minute film. I know it’s hard to completely transform a character over such a short period, but brilliant actors can do so almost effortlessly at times. The two characters that I’m thinking of off the top of my head are James Franco as Aaron Ralston in the amazing 127 Hours (if you watch this movie, watch the director’s cut rather than the theatrical version) and Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland in the equally as impressive Cast Away. Now I realize I’m comparing apples to oranges, and Teller is no, nor will he most likely ever be, the next James Franco or Tom Hanks. I also realize that director  James Ponsoldt (Smashed, Off The Black) is no Danny Boyle or Robert Zemeckis, but I digress. Teller could be an okay actor. He did a fine job in this movie. I’m curious enough to sometimes check him out in one of his other roles.

I think the part that Teller did the best as Sutter is that you don’t know what to make of him early on in the film. He’s not what you would call your traditional class clown, but it’s obvious he doesn’t take life too seriously or think very much about the future. One of the early problems is that Ponsoldt made him out to have a bit of a Donjuanesque side to him. Now, not to be mean, but when you see this guy, he’s an average-looking dude. To think of him as some sort of suave lady’s man was difficult to overcome, even from the film’s first moments. As a teacher, the time frame for this movie also didn’t make sense. Sutter is busy working on his college essay months after it was due. One of the scenes in the movie includes the senior prom, and still, the main characters in the movie don’t know which college they will be attending. It doesn’t work, but I will let that part slide.

Sutter has the perfect “Now” life. He has (or had) his dream girl in Cassidy (Brie Larson – Short Term 12, Rampart). He believes he is in love. He believes that no matter how much they argue, they are destined for one another. He is very young. He is very immature. He is very shortsighted. He is also an alcoholic at age 18. Ponsoldt did a fantastic job of beating this into our brains. Sutter is drinking alcohol in almost every scene. It makes him the life of the party but also gets him into some serious trouble. Sutter also has difficulty with commitment, not so much to a person as to an event. Even committing to something a week in the future is a trying task. When he is most down on his luck, he meets the sweetest girl you might see on film all year. Her name is Aimee Finicky, and she is played by Shailene Woodley, who seems people will remember from The Descendants and who everybody will get to know in the upcoming Divergent franchise. She’s the proof in this film that regardless of a person’s physical age, two people can be at very different points in their lives from a maturity standpoint, from a sexual experimentation level, for their ability to engage socially, etc. This is demonstrated for us perfectly by Sutter and Aimee. As an audience, we LOVE Aimee but are tentative, at best, about Sutter. I’ll explain the one problem with Aimee in a second, but for now, we see her as a high school senior who has been waiting to fall in love her entire life. Then we have Sutter, who is trying to rebound after a breakup with Cassidy while pursuing Cassidy while he is with Aimee. This is never a cool thing, but this is exasperating because of how much we like Aimee. Very early, the question becomes not IF Sutter will hurt Aimee, but when and to what degree.

This is not to say that Sutter is not a likable enough character. He is. He’s immature and not ready for adulthood, even when adulthood stares at him. He does have a good hurt, and when he does wrong, we aren’t entirely convinced he knows 100% that he is doing wrong. I don’t think he is out to hurt people at all. It just happens. His alcohol addiction doesn’t help matters. The fact that he has an absentee father (Kyle Chandler – The Wolf of Wall Street, NBC’s Friday Night Lights) and a mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh – Single White Female, Rush) who is too busy working double shifts as a nurse to raise him the way he needs to be raised and we have a young man who is both lost and unconcerned about it.

The scenes between Sutter and Aimee are real. The small problem I have with Aimee is she’s way too awesome for her character. We are supposed to view her as a step down from Cassidy (in terms of looks, popularity, etc.), but Aimee is extremely cute and has the personality I think any guy would go for. When his friends say stuff like, “You really aren’t interested in Aimee, are you?” to Sutter, our response as audience members is, “Why the hell not?” She’s the best character in the film. She does win over Sutter’s heart both in their first encounter and as their relationship progresses. But it never feels like losing her would be the worst thing in the world as it was when he lost Cassidy. On the opposite side is Aimee, who feels nothing but love for Sutter and would do nothing to hurt him. Perhaps any high school senior boy would be head over heels for someone like Aimee. So far, not having ever been in a relationship at this point in her life is a little tough to believe, but again I get it. We can all be 18 years old but still at different life stages.

Is The Spectacular Now worth seeing? In my opinion, it certainly is. There will be an audience, however, that screams, “Can this movie be any more cliche?” I get that. And there will also be an audience out there who thinks that Sutter got the easy way out by going from point A to point Z without going through stops B through Y. We all know about Leigh and Chandler, but it feels like we should get used to the names Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. They are going to be around for a while. And that is a good thing.

Plot 8.5/10
Character Development 7.5/10
Character Chemistry 9.5/10
Acting 8.5/10
Screenplay 8.5/10
Directing  8/10
Cinematography 7.5/10
Sound 7/10
Hook and Reel 9/10
Universal Relevance 9/10
83%

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