Sutter Keely lives in the now. Its a good place for him. A high school senior charming and self-possessed hes the life of the party loves his job at a mens clothing store and has no plans for the future. A budding alcoholic hes never far from his supersized whiskey-fortified thirst-master cup. But after being dumped by his girlfriend Sutter gets drunk and wakes up on a lawn with Aimee Finecky hovering over him. Shes different the nice girl who reads science fiction and doesnt have a boyfriend. While Amy has dreams of a future Sutter lives in the impressive delusion of a spectacular now yet somehow theyre drawn together.
Review
Sundancedarling "The Spectacular Now" is a curious one. With a script by the guys who wrote 𢔀 Days of Summer" the movie is about as slice oflife as they come and it is interesting and wellacted.
As the film unspools it may subconsciously remind viewers of the imperfect messiness of Cameron Crowe's teen ode "Say Anything" complete with a Cusacklike performance by Miles Teller.
Teller's Sutter character is smooth confident charming occasionally unlikable and flawed. It's an accomplished balancing act.
The centerpiece performance is really Shailene Woodley as Sutter's new girlfriend Aimee. She gives the most natural performance of a teenager on screen in ages. Her unaffected open assignment elevates every scene she's in.
Both performances are in service of a film that drifts through the senior high students' last weeks before the end of high school and takes a mutedlypessimistic approach of the future before our two leads. These two kids are invisibly shackled to their town in their home life their pasts. Echoing the crux at the centre of 1989's "Say Anything" Aimee figures an escape plan Sutter seems to be blindly comfortable in his 'spectacular' now.
Pulling ⋺st Times at Ridgemont High" alum Jennifer JasonLeigh into the film as Sutter's worldworn mother was a nice touch. Her vacanteyed mother is in keeping with the film's lessglamorous take.
The picture labours a bit too much in overemphasizing Sutter's crutch and the midfilm scenes visiting Sutter's estranged father had trouble finding the right tone between character and caricature. The movie doesn't feel any urgency to build to a conclusion but when it does it is understated uneventful kind of like our two characters and sort of like reallife too.
Life is messy as is "The Spectacular Now". It eschews the studio slickness and overplotted determination of more polished teenage products. Despite two grounded awardworthy lead performances this film seemed a touch sketched and eversoslightly inert.