The Spectacular Now
Starring: Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Brie Larson
Director: James Ponsoldt
Rating: 4/5
James Ponsoldt makes his return to the director's chair with his new film The Spectacular Now: a film that is screening at the BFI London Film Festival.
This comedy/romance is unlike any other film in this genre that we have been treated to so far this year, and it really is a great watch from start to finish.
Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) lives in the now. It’s a good place for him. A high school senior, charming and self-possessed, he’s the life of the party, loves his job at a men’s clothing store, and has no plans for the future.
A budding alcoholic, he’s never far from his supersized, whisky-fortified thirst-master cup. But after being dumped by his girlfriend, Sutter gets drunk and wakes up on a lawn with Aimee Finicky (Shailene Woodley) hovering over him.
She’s different: the 'nice girl' who reads science fiction and doesn’t have a boyfriend. While Amy has dreams of a future, Sutter lives in the impressive delusion of a spectacular now, yet somehow, they're drawn together.
Ponsoldt has delivered a movie that perhaps you don't expect when you hear the words 'romance' and 'comedy' to describe a film. Instead of being as deep as a puddle, this film is a gritty and intelligent coming of age drama.
This is a film that looks at addiction and trying to find your way in life: however, it is not a movie that pretends to have all the answers.
Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller both deliver great performances as they take on the central roles of Amy and Sutter. Amy is a character who knows what she wants, but likes the freedom and fun that comes with being around Sutter.
Sutter perhaps doesn't have the best intentions when he befriends Amy, but along the way he begins to understand that his life cannot be one big party.
Woodley continues to show that she really is a great actress in the making, while this could be a breakout performance for Teller.
Both of them are incredibly engaging actors, and they paint both of these characters in a way that you cannot help but root for them.
Sutter could so easily be an obnoxious drunk that you don't care about, but Teller shows that he is a teenager with a heart underneath it all.
I wouldn't quite go as far to say that this is a spectacular film, but it is one of the best coming of age tales that we have seen in some time.
The Spectacular Now is screening at the BFI Film Festival on the 10th, 11th & 20th October.
Tagged in BFI