The Spectacular Now (2013)

There’s barely a 20-minute stretch in James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now in which a character doesn’t bring up the concept of living in the present, past or future. That isn’t the biggest surprise considering the title of the thing, and perhaps the dialogue hammers it home a bit too vigorously, but ultimately this is a film entirely about how the mental world views of various characters force them into making good, bad or difficult decisions. The end of high school is one of the most jarring transitional periods of anyone’s life, and while many students go on to college and great careers there will inevitably be others that are left in the dust. The Spectacular Now explores these ideas while also telling a devastating, deeply felt teen love story about two characters who need each other and yet are likely terrible for each other.

Adapted from the novel by Tim Tharp, The Spectacular Now begins by introducing us to Sutter Keely (Miles Teller), a genuine but frequently drunk senior who seems to be having the time of his life. Things take a turn when his longtime girlfriend Cassidy (Brie Larson) breaks up with him, and soon he finds himself falling for Aimee Finecky (Shailene Woodley), a quiet, naive student who’s been looking for a way to break out of her shell. He helps her do that, and the two of them guide each other through various familial troubles while mostly ignoring the fact that their relationship may be doomed to an ugly end. They’re ultimately very different people, and down the road it will inevitably fall apart, but both of them—particularly Aimee—find themselves blinded by a now that is pretty spectacular, if you catch my drift.

The thing about “now,” of course, is that it very quickly ends, and this film suggest that at some point its characters must think about how their actions will affect themselves and others going forward. Perhaps Ponsoldt and writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber lay this idea out a bit too neatly, but they provide enough genuine examples to make the themes resonate. One of the biggest reasons Cassidy breaks up with Sutter is because she doesn’t see a future for him, and thus she sees no future for their relationship. He’s fun to hang out with and all, but he gives precisely no thought to what he’s going to be doing ten years, five years, even one year down the road. Whenever the subject comes up he deflects it or shoots it down. This concerns many of the adults in his life, including his mom (Jennifer Jason Leigh), his boss (Bob Odenkirk), and his geometry teacher (Andre Royo).

The Spectacular Now doesn’t add quite enough texture to its supporting characters, as most of them exist to serve their purpose and then leave. One such example is Sutter’s absentee father (Kyle Chandler), who pops up for a few scenes and leaves a considerable impact but ultimately the outcome of the whole ordeal feels telegraphed. Chandler is unsurprisingly good in the role, as he is the best, but like many of the adults in the film he doesn’t get much of an opportunity to exist outside of his role in the plot. It forces the story into a place it needs to go, and the film isn't all that elegant about it.

Luckily much of the film focuses exclusively on the relationship between Sutter and Aimee, and those scenes are fantastic just about across the board. Teller and Woodley are absolutely perfect scene in and scene out, and while their first meeting might be a tad on the convenient side it leads to a romance that’s utterly believable and engaging. During their more conversational scenes, Ponsoldt often chooses to let the camera linger on the actors and the results are both visually and emotionally beautiful. It certainly recalls Richard Linklater’s Before… movies, but Ponsoldt is dealing with two characters that are nothing like the protagonists of Linklater’s films. These are ultimately dumb teenagers doing dumb teenager things, but it feels so utterly, devastatingly real. Seeing a movie like The Spectacular Now can really expose the shortcomings of other coming-of-age fare, such as this summer’s The Way, Way Back. For a movie like this to work, it needs two fully defined characters at its center and their relationship cannot feel guided by an invisible creative hand. The Spectacular Now accomplishes this. It may be messy around the edges, but in its most profound moments it is very special indeed.

Grade: B+ (and a half)