Courtesy of A24 Films |
THE SPECTACULAR NOW
2013, 99 minutes
Rated R for alcohol use, language, and some
sexuality – all involving teens
Review by Joshua
Handler
It is rare for a movie to have the power to deliver as much
of a gut punch as The Spectacular Now,
the new film by acclaimed director James Ponsoldt (Smashed) and writers Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter ((500) Days of Summer), does. Teen movies frequently involve some form of
glorification of drinking, drug use, and sex, and/or a heavy-handed
message. The Spectacular Now contains all of the elements of a clichéd teen
film, but just manages to stay to the side of cliché, forming a movie that left
me with an immense sense of admiration and love for it.
The film won a Special Jury Prize for Acting from this
year’s Sundance Film Festival for the performances by leads Miles Teller (Rabbit Hole) and Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) whose portrayals of high
school seniors are among the most accurate I’ve ever seen. The two never seem to be acting. They seem to be living in their characters. Their natural chemistry is beautiful. Each action and each word is said with such
care and such love that is hard to believe that this is a movie at some points. I cannot praise Teller and Woodley
enough. Their performances don’t have
the artifice that those of other young actors have and they just let their own
personalities bleed out to create some of the most distinct and
multi-dimensional teen characters in ages.
Neustadter and Weber’s screenplay is gutsy. The first half is very charming and made me
feel great, but once reality starts setting in and senior year begins to wind
down, the harshness of the real world starts to crash down on the characters,
giving the movie serious dramatic heft.
The movie focuses very heavily on the theme of teen alcoholism, but the
way it is handled is original and refreshing.
I didn’t realize this as a theme of the movie until a serious reality
check comes later in the film. Drinking
is present in so many scenes in the film that I didn’t recognize that the lead
character is an alcoholic until the aforementioned reality check. This is a brilliant move by Neustadter and
Weber. They handle this issue so subtly
and honestly that they never need to explicitly tell the audience that alcoholism
is a theme and that it is bad, as many other, lesser films would do. The best way to describe this movie is a John
Hughes movie without any of the sentimentality.
That is not to say that Hughes’ movies are bad. They are among the most accurate films about
high school life ever made. They just
have a sentimental streak, which does works well for them. The
Spectacular Now does have one scene that could conceivably be called
sentimental, but is completely earned and works beautifully. The final scenes of the movie could have been
cheesy had they gone the route that other movies would have. But, Neustadter and Weber take the route,
making these scenes that much more painful and smart. Had The
Spectacular Now’s final scene run for a single minute more, it would not
have had the punch that it had. But,
Neustadter and Weber knew where to cut that final scene, giving it real impact.
The dialogue given to Teller and Woodley
is realistic and, at times, very funny and Teller and Woodley’s performances
really make it come to life.
The Spectacular Now
frequently goes scarily close to being contrived. Had it not been so well-directed, acted, and
written, it would have been a laughably bad melodramatic mess. This movie should never have worked, but somehow
did.
James Ponsoldt’s direction of the movie is what ties it all
together. With The Spectacular Now, he has established himself as a major talent
who is destined for huge success (he has been hired to direct Rodham about Hilary Rodham Clinton and
hired by The Weinstein Company to direct a film adaptation of the hit musical Pippin and an adaptation of Matthew
Quick’s new novel). Ponsoldt’s direction
is sensitive, insightful, and never intrusive.
Nothing in The Spectacular Now
ever feels over-directed or micromanaged. The film is stunningly cinematic and
gorgeously shot. Ponsoldt got amazing
performances out of his cast and tied everything together to make a beautiful
whole.
Overall, The
Spectacular Now is spectacular indeed and is a landmark film in the teen
drama subgenre. Other recent (sometimes
very good) coming-of-age movies like The
Perks of Being a Wallflower have dealt honestly with serious issues that
teens deal with, but they don’t have the special touch or the honesty that The Spectacular Now has. Its unwillingness to tone down its content
for a lower rating is admirable. It’s
R-rated content, though, caused the film to wait years to be produced, as many
studios passed on it, according to the filmmakers (Ponsoldt, Weber, and Michael
Lauren, a producer on the film were at a post-screening Q&A). While this movie has an R-rating, all older teens
and parents should see this movie. I
cannot think of a more important movie for modern day teens to see than The Spectacular Now because it doesn’t
preach to them, it speaks.
4/4
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