The Spectacular Now (2013)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Sorry, this movie sucks

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Now this movie truly touched my heart. Reminded me a bit of me when I was a freshman in college, and about the mistakes we all make. I only wished it kept going, great love story.

As someone who has a deadbeat father, this movie struck a real chord with me. The raw emotion in this movie in unbelievable. Miles Teller was the perfect choice for the main character, Sutter. I suspect a lot of the subtleties of this film will be missed on people who haven't had similar experiences. However, everyone should see this movie just to broaden their horizons.

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.

The only thing spectacular about this film is how it managed to convince critics that it's good. It's not. This movie suffers from bad acting and a worse script. I couldn't relate to the characters at all. The main character was self-absorbed and didn't care about anyone but himself.