The Spectacular Now

The Spectacular Now is a movie that I wanted to love. There were two things that I did love, and their names were Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller. I expected nothing less from Woodley, who I've been rooting for ever since her dynamite performance in The Descendants. Miles Teller has always been someone I never much cared for, who now demonstrates perhaps not acting ability, but a true passion for what he's doing. He plays himself, but he plays a softer, more emotional version of himself.

Outside of that, the movie is cute enough. It's got a typical opposites-attract couple (perhaps a bit too painfully reminiscent of A Walk To Remember for my taste), typical high school characters, and a generic enough script with enough lovey-dovey lines to keep girlfriends happy, but not so many that the guys get sick of rolling their eyes. It never soars, though. Any emotion I felt was solely from Woodley making me smile. And lets face it, I'm all but in love with the girl. She could make me smile doing pretty much nothing. I had the distinct feeling watching this film that if I replaced the actors with two different ones, it would not nearly have meant as much. So, kudos to you two. But for the rest of the film, there's plenty to be desired.

By this point, if you've read any of my negative reviews, you know one of my biggest pet peeves is when a movie has no reason to be told. Why did I need to know this story? What made it special, different, worth watching? Sadly, I really have no answer for this. It felt like a pretty generic high school coming of age story, even by normal (not hollywood) standards. Granted, it had a twist of the beginnings of alcoholism, but it didn't use that so significantly that I felt too much dramatic tension from it.

Rotten Tomatoes has its consensus state that the film "avoids typical coming-of-age story trappings". I guess I can agree with that to an extent. But that doesn't mean it avoids generic plot devices. We all see what's coming with Sutter's father. We all know that Woodley's character is going to do (without revealing too much) exactly what she's going to do. There's nothing new in this film, and even though the two leads are adorable together (get away from her Teller...), it's just not enough to distract from the blandness. And that's it, really. I feel bad walking away from this movie thinking that it was only fine. But that's all it was. And sadly, that's all it seemed to strive for.

Rank - 2.5/5