sisternuni Main character drinks and drinks and encourages others to do the same with no real consequences. I found the story flat. Watched it for the actors (and the high rating on IMDB), but they couldn't lift it up. Disappointed.

sharky_55 How refreshing is it to find a teen drama that does not condescend its viewers, and serve up familiar character archetypes as if we need our hands held in order to navigate the plot of a coming of age story. These characters refuse to be defined by simplistic labels like so many cinematic replicas of high school often do. Notice how although Marcus and Cassidy are antagonists - in the sense that they oppose Sutter's objectives - they are never made out as villains. How often do these popular jocks wail on the main characters, only to get their comeuppance in the end? Yet Cassidy has her own legitimate reasons for breaking it off with Sutter, despite their obvious chemistry, and Marcus is revealed to be envious of Sutter's charismatic pull, and both learn valuable lessons from the other, including admitting their own shortcomings. Early on you get the impression of Sutter Keely as casually charming, to the point of falling into arrogance. Teller brought this over to Whiplash, too. He prides himself on being the life of the party, for dating the it girl for "two months longer than anyone else", and for being the go to guy for helping out with anything, whether it be booze for a party, or propping up a shy, socially outcast girl's confidence. When his friend queries him on his intentions, the tone of his response implies that he is doing her a favour. This is condescension, although Aimee flocks to the unexpected attention like a firefly anyway. It makes sense that he is a salesman - he makes others feel good, although most importantly it makes him feel good about himself. Rewinding and watching it again, we realise there are touches of kindness behind this arrogance, as if Sutter is trying to prove something to himself. He's good at it, so why not? There is no clearly defined point where he realises that this relationship might be mutually beneficial, where he discovers that maybe he, too, deserves the same sort of affection that he hands out freely as a 'favour'. There is a sex scene that is driven by their shared intimacy, instead of focusing on the nudity. And there is the way they prop each other up as they confront their own domestic trauma, including the quietly sad moment where they are forced to pool loose change in order to cover the tab of a father who has never bothered. Sutter lives in the spectacular now, but after seeing his own mottos reflected in his deadbeat, estranged father, he wonders if there is a life beyond waking up hungover on anonymous lawns in an anonymous small suburban town. How much longer can he use alcohol as a way of smothering his problems? Ponsoldt makes drinking a pervasive part of his life, normalised through discreet hip flasks during school and work, but avoids using it as a dramatic pitfall. Aimee begins to show signs of turning into a 'lush' too, but the realisation must come from within themselves. In many of these stories it takes the courage and sensitivity of a girl to 'fix' the broken guy wallowing in self pity, but here they learn hard on each other, and gradually work their way towards recognising their flaws. Both admit to being harmful for the other, but are nevertheless drawn together by some messy mix of loyalty, possessiveness, compassion and desperation. Remember John Cusack hoisting his boombox to serenade Ione Skye under her window in Say Anything? That happened in the middle of the movie, and fell on deaf ears, because the pair still had so much growing left to do. The same goes for Sutter and Aimee on the steps of Philadelphia.

merelyaninnuendo The Spectacular NowThe premise is somewhat familiar and seems like your typical teenage movie stuff, but as it ages on screen, it grows into this mature character driven feature that contradicts its tone. The first half of it is slow, mushy-gushy and spends its time on setting the plot and the characters' track. There are few inedible clauses in here but if neglecting and moving past it, it offers much more than a romantic genre usually does. It is shot beautifully when it focuses on its love track and is perfectly balanced on the dark and light aspects of it; especially in its last act. James Ponsoldt has done a decent work on executing this uneven and unsettled feature but it definitely could have edited better and improved on some other technical aspects too. The performance is where the wheel gets stuck as its lead characters (Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley) are not in their A game whilst the supporting cast (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Brie Larson) is far better. The Spectacular Now is spectacular on terms of its unpredictability as it laughs over the expectation of the audience which it outgrows by a major margin.

Floated2 The Spectaculor Now is a teen drama book adaptation film. As with many books, this film was apparently a smaller scale novel compared to other teen or younger adult types. For a teen drama/comedy type, as seen in past years, this film is quite more mature and more serious and doesn't rely on silly gags or over the top jokes. There are some comic relief scenes and the tone isn't too serious but at other parts, the film takes quite a turn and becomes more serious and focused. The Spectaculor Now is well cast, with Miles Teller in the lead and Shailene Woodley supporting. Though it was somewhat hard to take them both as high school students (18/17 years old) considering how their careers are now. Also with the character constantly drinking, having a nice car, and working part time. As well as Shailene Woodley playing an outcast and people being surprised that Miles Teller's character is interested in her. Miles Teller reminded of Shia Laboeuf in his earlier days at certain parts. Unlike many teen drama's, many of them are filled with predictable and over the top love romance, where as this film is more sensitive and feels quite more authentic. The film somewhat went downhill with a subplot involving Sutter wanting to find more information about his father, resulting in him personally visiting him, then of course things don't go as planned. The ending was also quite different than Hollywood's typical romance teen drama's, and which is why this film elevates itself. Overall, this film was something different, and it is a shame it did not do too well at the box office, though it did not have a large budget, being a smaller scale independent film. If you are expecting another 'The Notebook' or 'The Fault in Our Stars, you may be disappointed.