Review of The Spectacular Now (2013) by Jesse O — 19 Jan 2014

This is an incredible and complex coming-of-age film. It's definitely one that tries to subvert and avoid all the trappings associated with the genre. It tells the story of Sutter Keely, a high school senior and a raging alcoholic, which I'll touch on later, falls in love with a very sweet girl in Aimee Finecky and how their relationship develops through its ups and downs.

It certainly reads like many other films you've seen before, and I'm not saying you haven't seen it before, but this film certainly stands out among the pack with its clever writing, unsentimental approach to its characters, and its incredible cast.

One of the things that I liked about the movie was how it didn't see the need to beat you over the head with Sutter's alcoholism and self-destructive behavior. It was far more subtle than that and I think it makes for a better story that way, since they're not calling attention to it.

It's something that you gradually notice more and more throughout the film and how Sutter uses alcohol in order to sort of numb the pain and deal with the fact that he's becoming an adult, as much as he'd like to avoid it or turn away from it.

This self-destructive behavior seeps its way into his relationship with Aimee and you get to see how that, in turn, affects Aimee. The thing is that Aimee, who had never had a boyfriend before Sutter, forgives, and in some cases even apologizes for, his behavior even when it puts her life in danger.

This is a girl who has very low self-esteem and someone who's willing to forgive the most egregious mistakes Sutter could make just because he was the only boy who gave her any attention and he was someone who made her feel good about herself.

In some cases she even blames herself for Sutter's actions. As much as the film is about Sutter's journey in facing his demons, and overcoming them, the film is just as much about how those same demons end up affecting Aimee.

The film sees Sutter meeting his father, who had left them when Sutter was very young, and seeing that, as much as he doesn't want to admit it, that he's headed down the same path his father's on right now.

This is where his demons really start to come out because, before this, while he certainly drank a lot, Sutter was just content to just joke his way out of everything rather than face his problems head on.

So the movie definitely goes to some dark places with Sutter's alcoholism. And, to his credit, Miles Teller steps and pretty much hits a grand slam with his performance in this movie, I'll touch on Shailene Woodley later.

I don't wanna say that Miles is anything like the character, because I don't actually know the man, but the guy becomes this character. It's not an actor playing a role, though that's what it is, it's an extension of this Miles' actual personality with dial set to 11.

He's quick-witted, he's charming and he's funny. He's exactly what this character should be and Miles pretty much makes it all look very effortless. It comes naturally to him and that's his greatest strength as an actor, he's a complete natural.

And he also does a great job at the more dramatic aspects of the film, like the film's climax when he finally breaks down and realizes that he has issues and says that nobody loves him. It sounds quite corny when writing it, but I found the execution to be anything but.

It's quite heartbreaking to be honest, and it's even more powerful when the film lets the actors' performances speak for themselves rather than trying to manipulate you through the score. You want Sutter to overcome his demons and actually do something with his life rather than just 'living in the now' and using that as an excuse to not plan ahead for the future.

Which brings us to Shailene Woodley. If there was a photo for lovely in the dictionary, it would be Ms. Woodley in this movie. She's got this incredibly sweet, kind, and caring personality in this movie and it's definitely easy to see how Sutter could fall in in love with her.

But, at the same time, she's this girl who, very obviously, has some severe self-esteem issues. As I already mentioned, Aimee is willing to forgive almost everything Sutter does because he's the only one who's shown her any attention and made her feel like she's worth something.

So while you are certainly rooting for the couple to work out their differences, you're also rooting for Aimee to realize that Sutter, if he doesn't change his self-destructive behavior, is more likely to harm her as opposed to making her happy.

It's not that you hate Sutter, it's that you want Aimee to realize that she's worth more than she thinks of herself. And I think Shailene does an incredible job at giving depth to the character, rather than making her a muppet.

Again, she's just absolutely lovely and it's very easy to fall in love with her. This brings us to the purposely ambiguous ending. Aimee and Sutter make plans, after they graduate, to move to Philly together and live together.

Sutter, during his darker moments, stands Aimee up and "saves her from the danger", as he says. Forward to the ending, where Sutter, finally having overcome his demons, decides to go to Philly in order to win Aimee back.

The last shot of the film sees Sutter arriving and finding Aimee, who looks at him and gives him a little smile before the film cuts to black and ends. The debate that comes in is what is Aimee thinking at Sutter's arrival after standing her up.

Is she happy he's back and they live happily ever after? Has she found someone else who truly appreciates her and she's finding a way to let him down? Or is she done with Sutter because she finally realized that he was bad for her? This is something I saw in a reddit post discussing the ending of the film, and it's definitely a very astute observation, and it's that it doesn't matter what she's thinking.

What matters is that she's THINKING. The old Aimee would've immediately forgiven and rushed to kiss Sutter and forgiven him without thinking about it. This Aimee, having spent several months in Philly, is more mature.

It's clear by her reaction that this is not the same girl that Sutter fell in love with. The film is mostly about Sutter's journey, but this last shot shows the effect that his actions had on Aimee, and the last shot of the film perfectly captures that.

I think most of us would like to believe that they live happily ever after, but it's definitely a more complex ending than that and I'm happy that it was left ambiguous as now everyone can give their own little spin on what happened afterwards.

And that's the beauty of it. The more I think about it, the more I actually love this movie. Because it's a movie that's so nuanced, so detailed and so complex. Especially for what is a coming-of-age, teen romance.

It's not quite The Perks of being a Wallflower, but there's a lot more going on in this movie than meets the eye. It's a movie with various layers, ready to be dissected and examined. I absolutely loved this movie and it's got an incredible script, an incredible cast and a great story with uncommon complexity.

I absolutely recommend this film, it's not the best film of 2013 but it's definitely one of my favorites.