The Spectacular Now

This is extremely long overdue. It turns out the first semester in the second year of an MA is insane. Anyways, I've handed in a paper, and am ignoring the pile of analyses I have to grade so that I can write a review. First up: The Spectacular Now.

This late summer romance is directed by James Ponsoldt. I remember reading a review of it which stated that it was our generation's answer to Say Anything. I knew then that I had to see it, and I was not disappointed. The film follows Sutter (Miles Teller), a charming high school student who refuses to plan for the future and prefers to live in the now. He meets Aimee (Shailene Woodley), a sweet, hard working student with a challenging home life, and sparks, as they say,  fly.

What I really enjoyed about this film was the natural down to earth performances by Teller and Woodley. It's been over ten years since I graduated high school but watching the film took me back to the real-life experiences of being a teenager. Rather than piling on make-up and putting her in flashy clothes, Woodley's Aimee is allowed to look like a regular teenager. Her character isn't an over-the-top representation of teenage angst, or an overtly emotional look at the challenging life of a teen from a broken home. We never even see her Mom, we only hear her yelling off screen at one point. Instead, the film focusses on two characters who are drawn together and are navigating a young relationship in the midst of the unavoidable internal growth that comes with that age. I also really appreciated that the film looked at the role alcohol plays in the lives of some teens. Most teen films depict alcohol binges at parties. But what about the teenagers that drink at home alone, have a dependency on it? This is not a story told often, so it was refreshing to see it depicted.

The film takes its time, but doesn't over stay its welcome. At 95 minutes in length it tells you all you need to know, and leaves enough open at the end for you not to feel as though you've been spoon-fed the story. A great film for the majority.