The Spectacular Now Review

The future is a scary thing, especially for young people. Worrying about college, jobs, and relationships can be a lot for a person. So much for some that it makes them never want to change. My high school had more than a few party kids and while I didn't know many of them personally I actually worried for them. These were people who had their whole lives ahead of them but didn't see what they were doing was hurting them. Some of these kids were smart but instead of fulfilling their potential they wanted to have fun. I'm not a mind reader so I can't say exactly why they were doing what they were doing but if I had to guess it would be because it was easier than working towards their future. The Spectacular know is a coming of age comedy-drama from the writers of (500) Days of Summer. The film follows the story of a high school student named Sutter, an 18 year old party kid and alcoholic. Sutter was in a long term relationship with a girl named Cassidy who had a similar personality to him. After a misunderstanding the two break up, to cope Sutter decides to get plastered. After a night on the town he's woken up on somebody's lawn by an unpopular girl that goes to his high school named Aimee. She explains that she was out on her paper route when she found him sleeping there; hung-over Sutter thanks her and offers to help her out (mostly so he can look for his car which is now missing). The two start talking and while they are polar opposites, Sutter is intrigued and asks if they can have lunch one day. At lunch Sutter asks if she can tutor him in geometry (since he's one F away from flunking). During their session Sutter asks Aimee to a party and there he reveals his feelings for her. Now Sutter sets out to maintain a real relationship with Aimee while at the same time fighting his personal demons and coming to realization that the future is coming whether he wants it or not. This movie surprised, not because it was a very good movie (which it was) but because the director took it in a direction I wasn't expecting. The first half of the movie was pretty comedic, I thought it was another one of those quirky coming of age comedies like "The Way, Way Back" or "Little Miss Sunshine." What surprised me was that the last half of the movie was actually very serious. The movie reminded me of "Silver Linings Playbook," going into it you're expecting a comedy but in reality this is a serious drama with some comedic moments thrown in. There are some seriously emotional and heartbreaking moments in this movie. This is a drama disgusted as a comedy. The movie stars mostly young actors who do a really good job, especially the kid who plays Sutter. Like I said earlier this is a drama more than anything but there are some pretty funny lines in this movie. The Spectacular Now is an excellent film and one of the next great teen movies. It's one of the most emotional and sincere movies I've seen in the last few years. While it doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the genre, it does what we've seen before better than most.

4/5 Stars