'The Spectacular Now' is more like the spectacular wait-for-it
The Spectacular Now features a jerk of a main character, lots of underage drinking with a little driving and drinking thrown in, a tame but awkward sex scene and that feeling that at some point the other shoe is going to drop or else you are wasting time with the film.
Miles Teller plays the jerky life of the party who is dumped by his hottie girlfriend. He meets Aimee, played by Shailene Woodley, after falling asleep in a drunken stupor and waking up having no idea where he is or where his car is parked. Woodley makes the story more palatable, even if she is playing the nerdy chick who gets good grades. (I guess there were a couple of nerdy girls in high school who were hot but didn’t know it.) Unfortunately, every fiber of your being will scream that he is going to hurt her. The Spectacular Now might be more appropriately called “the spectacular wait-for-it.” However, the ambiguous ending redeems the movie as the main character really does some growing up, and Woodley provides the appropriate facial cues and emotions. |
Other players in the film are a hardly noticeable Jennifer Jason Leigh, whose best contribution is the memory of the awkward sex scene, mirrored at least in awkwardness in this film, in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Kyle Chandler, whose performance as a deadbeat dad is spot on and in direct contrast to his Early Edition character. |
Check out Romney's Review of The Spectacular Now as he tries to suppress his high school bitterness.