The Spectacular Now (2013)
Directed by James Ponsoldt
Sutter, a popular party animal, unexpectedly meets the introverted Aimee after waking up on a stranger's lawn. As Sutter deals with the problems in his life and Aimee plans for her future beyond school, an unexpected romance blossoms between them.
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19 films that influenced The Spectacular Now
What critics say influenced The Spectacular Now
There are also moments that will recall, for many viewers, its most obvious influence, Say Anything — though it’s worth noting that the film is so engrossing, those parallels didn’t even occur to this viewer until well after it was over (which is saying something, since a second viewing confirms it follows the earlier picture nearly beat for beat).
Sutter recalls John Cusack in "Say Anything," and the character brings some of that teenager's gifts — of gab and a stealthy sincerity — to bear on a lovely new friendship.
That said, The Spectacular Now is one of the rare truly soulful and authentic teen movies, like last year’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower or the classic one from 24 years ago that this one most reminded me of: Say Anything.
If this film (adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber from a novel by Tim Tharp) has an antecedent in the teen-movie universe, it’s Cameron Crowe’s 1989 classic Say Anything .
The teen movie “The Spectacular Now” begins like “Say Anything” but soon turns into “Drink Anything.”
Thankfully, it turns out that Sutter getting his obliviousness to how uncharming his screwed-up-edness is stripped away is going to be the point of this, perhaps the most down-to-gritty-earth teen movie since Say Anything… and a helluva lot more stark than that film ever got.
I headed into The Spectacular Now expecting to see a movie like Sixteen Candles and was stunned when I got a prequel to Days of Wine and Roses instead.
It propelled “The Way We Were” and “Sixteen Candles,” and fueled millions of “Twilight” obsessions.
The Spectacular Now has been touted as a throwback to the teen romances of the 1980s, like the John Hughes/Molly Ringwald team-ups of Sixteen Candles and Pretty In Pink, or, better still, Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything… The comparison doesn’t hold up entirely: The film’s unvarnished look is more 1970s than 1980s, and director James Ponsoldt and his screenwriters, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, mostly steer clear of retrograde Hughes stereotypes.
The way the writing pushes against cliches is reminiscent of ’80s films like “Lucas” and “Gregory’s Girl.”
John Hughes made a bunch of them, too, with stuff like The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and, to a certain extent, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
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I headed into The Spectacular Now expecting to see a movie like Sixteen Candles and was stunned when I got a prequel to Days of Wine and Roses instead.
Both movies could be considered versions of Days of Wine and Roses for millennials.
It propelled “The Way We Were” and “Sixteen Candles,” and fueled millions of “Twilight” obsessions.
The Spectacular Now could have easily followed a Pretty In Pink trajectory from this point-Aimee as the girl who falls in love with the popular boy who, by some silly imposed rule, should never even noticed an extremely pretty classmate outside of his social clique-but it cleverly doesn't.
“She’s All That.” “Pretty in Pink.” “16 Candles.”
Anchored by a funny and especially credible performance by newcomer Miles Teller, Ponsoldt's follow up to his alcoholism portrait "Smashed" has all the hallmarks of a bittersweet teen drama with flashes of realistic comedy on par with "Say Anything" and "The Breakfast Club."
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Chandler, best known for playing the world’s greatest father on Friday Night Lights, plays the anti-Coach Taylor here, and it hurts to watch.
A darker-than-usual turn for Chandler, the "Friday Night Lights" perfect father figure dives deep to make the most of the disappointments he delivers.
Rounding out the cast is Kyle Chandler (Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights) as Sutter’s father.
They arrive on a Friday afternoon and dad (Friday Night Lights’ Kyle Chandler) appears – a twitchy, seedily handsome guy – and takes Sutter to visit his buddies at the local bar.
Sutter is one of the year's memorable screen characters, as vibrant and compelling as Hannah Bailey, the real-life heroine of the 2008 high school documentary "American Teen."