Directed by: James Ponsoldt.
Written by: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber based on the novel by Tim Tharp.
Starring: Miles Teller (Sutter), Shailene Woodley (Aimee), Brie Larson (Cassidy), Masam Holden (Ricky), Dayo Okeniyi (Marcus), Kyle Chandler (Tommy), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Sara), Nicci Faires (Tara), Ava London (Bethany), Whitney Goin (Aimee's Mom), Andre Royo (Mr. Aster), Bob Odenkirk (Dan), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Holly).
The
Spectacular Now is that rare film for teenagers that doesn’t try to preach good
messages at them, nor try to shock the audience with teens abhorrent behavior
(like the collected works of Larry Clark). Instead, it deals with teenagers
openly and honestly – it treats both the characters and the audience with
respect. Yes, one could argue that the film is a “message” movie, or that the
plot could have easily been made into an afterschool special – but as Roger
Ebert never tired of saying “A movie isn’t about what it’s about – it’s about
how it’s about it”. That is certainly true of The Spectacular Now which took
what could have been a formulaic plot and preachy movie, and turned it into a
quietly moving character piece.
The
movie stars Miles Teller as Sutter – a high school senior, who is always the
life of the party. When we first meet him, his beloved girlfriend Cassidy (Brie
Larson) has just broken up with him, and Sutter goes on a bender – or more
accurately, uses the break-up as an excuse to do what he was going to do
anyway, and get hammered. Sutter gets hammered a lot, and drives around town
drunk – but as Cassidy says “He drives better this way” – which is the type of
thing alcoholics tell themselves. The next day when he wakes up on a random
lawn, his car nowhere in sight, Aimee (Shailene Woodley) is standing over him.
They are in the same year in school, but barely know each other. Sutter is
popular, Aimee is not. But she’s sweet and kind to Sutter – drives him around
the neighborhood as she’s on her paper route to help him look for his car. The
two agree to have lunch one day at school that week. And so an unlikely romance
begins.
You
can probably see where the movie is going in terms of its plot – and largely
you would be right. The Spectacular Now features many of the scenes you would
expect in a typical teenage movie – including prom, graduation, experimenting
with sex, etc. – and yet it deals with each of them in a much more realistic
way than the typical movie does. This isn’t a film like She’s All That, where
the popular kid takes the wallflower and turns her into the beauty you’d have
to be blind not see she was all along. When Aimee walks into prom, she’s looks
nice – but she isn’t gawked at by everyone. Even the relationship between
Sutter and Cassidy feels natural – she still “loves” him, but knows it’s best
for her to put some distance between them. She doesn’t suddenly become a bitch
when she sees him with someone new.
The
movie handles pretty much everything well – including the scenes where Sutter
has his long term delusions about his father (Kyle Chandler) shattered. It
would have been easy to make these scenes into a standard issue blowup – with
the two yelling at each other, but the way director James Ponsoldt handles it
is just about perfect. That goes for most of the rest of the movie as well.
It’s refreshing to see a movie about teenagers that deals with them this openly
and honestly – that doesn’t shy away from clichés at times, but makes those
clichés feel real. It isn’t always prom that changes people lives – but
smaller, more intimate moments.
In
this, the movie benefits greatly from the performances by its entire cast.
Teller is excellent as the teenager who views himself as invincible and has an
inflated sense of himself – nothing can harm him, everyone loves him, he
doesn’t need college, etc. He’s the life of the party, and he’s more than happy
to live in the “now” rather than think about the future. The movie is really
his story as he gradually realizes that many of those things simply are not
true. Throughout the movie he grows up – at least a little – and makes steps
towards improvement. For her part, Woodley nearly matches Teller, as the shy
girl who gradually opens up. If she doesn’t quite match Teller, it’s because
her role isn’t quite as well defined – this is almost certainly do to the fact
that the highly acclaimed book by Tim Twarp the movie is based on is written
from Sutter’s point of view. There are times though that you have to wonder
what she is thinking – why she falls for Sutter so hard, although Sutter is
certainly partly correct when he cruelly tells her she only loves him because
he’s the first person to actually notice her. But she’s young, in love and
doesn’t notice the flaws that finally drove Cassidy away. Speaking of Cassidy,
the immensely talented Brie Larson does an excellent job at making her a fully
rounded character in limited screen time – she makes you care about her
character quite a bit, and worry for her as well. Does her final revelation to
Sutter actually sound like a good idea to you? Or is she simply going too far
in the other direction? And finally Kyle Chandler does an excellent job in just
a few scenes as Sutter’s father – essentially acting as a time machine to let
Sutter know just what he’ll become if he continues the way he’s going. Yes, the
movie may in fact underline this a little too heavily with some on the nose
dialogue – but Chandler sells it.
I
also loved the way the movie ended. To those who have read the book (which
doesn’t include me) some thought the ending to the movie was more upbeat than
that of the book. But in reality, it’s really an ambiguous ending. What
precisely does the look on Aimee’s face in the final frames of the movie really
mean? That’s up to the individual viewer to decide. But regardless, it’s just
about a perfect way to end this uncommonly intelligent, sensitive movie about
teenagers.
No comments:
Post a Comment