Review of The Spectacular Now (2013) by Nishlank J — 31 Mar 2014

I remember hearing Elizabeth Taylor describe love and how the feeling is the same no matter what age you are. 80 year olds can share it, 40, and even high schoolers. So whenever she meets say a teenage girl who says that she's in love, she isn't quick to judge or think 'how cute' but to recognize that love experienced by teens is the same real thing that exists for adults. This movie captures this potency of love in the backdrop of the final semester of High School. The protagonist, Sutter, is the 'life of the party' as he puts it. He is extremely outgoing, witty, and funny. He is always present with people and glorifies his existence. He seems to know beforehand that he's going to look back on this time as the best year of his life. Aimee Finecky, on the other hand, is a quiet, reclusive girl who wants to work for NASA when she grows up. She is constantly worrying about other people and doesn't give her interests much thought. These two worlds collide when Sutter passes out from a night of drinking on someone's yard and is met by Aimee during her paper route. Sutter is transfixed after hearing how she picks up her mother's paper route each morning at 5 am and pays half of the household bills.

This relationship is made so believable and so magnetic by the wonderful performances by Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley. They know just the right notes to play and counterbalance the other in perfect harmony. The chemistry works perfectly and we want to see them together.

This biggest trepidation I have with most high school/teen movies is that they are too often glamorized by Hollywood. They always have huge parties at their parent's house, everyone is gorgeous and mature, and it makes one feel like they missed something when they went to high school. Not this movie. The actors are not really physically attractive. What makes these characters so attractive, nay beautiful, to us and the characters is their distinct personalities. Shailene Woodley is a girl that seems more fit to be a high school extra - in movies and real life. The kind of girl you'd easily walk by down the halls and forget. But here, this movie dares to follow up with her, learn more about her and in the process discover what a gem she is. Sutter, despite his popularity and early alcoholism, is a good guy deep down. He knows a good thing when he sees one and he doesn't care what other people thinks. By the end of this movie we see a reversal of roles between the two - now that high school is over and the future just begun, Sutter desperately needs Aimee to keep him on the right track. He doesn't want to end up like his father, a runaway husband who is the town drunk. He doesn't want to harm Aimee either, and his biggest conflict is to allow himself to experience the negative aspects of life so he can appreciate the positives. He is afraid to let her in his life and be disappointed. Ultimately, he is in process of complete self-destruction. But love, pure selfless and undeserving love, drops into his world and pulls him out of it. This movie shows us that there are plenty of Nows to go around and that we should make each one count and learn from them. Now is regret, Now is pain, Now is inspiring, Now is spectacular.