“The Spectacular Now” is a tween, faintly nostalgic coming-of-age story that tugs at the heartstrings, but offers little substance between the moments of emotional crises.
Penned by the screenwriters of “500 Days of Summer,” “The Spectacular Now” blithely navigates the pitfalls of the high school romance movie. However, director James Ponsoldt’s (“Smashed”) attempts to avoid cliches draws attention away from some of the more powerful subtle moments of the film.
The story is simple. Stutter (Miles Teller, “21 & Over”) is a hard-partying, fun-loving high school senior with no plans for his future. After his girlfriend Cassidy (Brie Larson, “21 Jump Street”) breaks up with him, he meets Aimee (Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”), a shy and nerdy girl from the same school.
Aimee’s absent mom and her passive personality grabs Stutter’s attention and pity, and he resolves to “rescue” her from her predicament. Eventually--through a series of emotional confrontations and existential crises--Stutter realizes that he is the one who needs rescuing.
“The Spectacular Now” is cute, poignant and charming, despite its blasé premise and unlikable main character. While the love story is center stage for most of the movie, it is far from the most interesting part of the movie. Instead, it is Stutter’s relationships to his bitter mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh, “Synecdoche, New York”) and deadbeat dad (Kyle Chandler, “Zero Dark Thirty”) that makes an engrossing dynamic that isn’t explored enough.
It’s not that screenwriters Scott Neustadter (“500 Days of Summer) and Michael Weber (“The Pink Panther 2”) didn’t try to make the romance compelling. Stutter is the complete opposite of a typical romantic hero--he’s stubborn, brash, rude and self-absorbed.
And Aimee is far from the eccentric and charismatic love interest who “saves” the protagonist with her vibrant personality. In fact, Neustadter and Weber go so out of their way to make sure she doesn’t have any of the quirky characteristics of the manic pixie dream girl that they basically eliminate her personality altogether. Aimee becomes a plot device to the story--an angelic ray of hope at the end of Stutter’s long road to self-fulfillment.
Despite its flaws, “The Spectacular Now” proves to live up to its name. Miles Teller is admirably unlikable throughout the movie, but gives a moving performance as Stutter, a young man facing his flawed philosophy with life. And Woodley’s raw and stripped down performance (literally and figuratively) breathes life into the sometimes poorly written Aimee.
Larson and Leigh also give standout performances as Stutter’s ex-girlfriend and mother, respectively. Larson injects a soulful intelligence into all of her short scenes, and Leigh plays her role with such a weary bitterness that it is discomfiting.
The film’s visuals are warm and earthy, giving a distinctly ‘90s small town vibe that feeds into the nostalgic themes of the film. It’s a visual that many indie rom-coms are echoing nowadays, and while it’s nothing remarkable, it works.
“The Spectacular Now” is a callback to the past, despite being set in the now. Although it does wear a hardened cynicism on its sleeve, the film’s message is undoubtedly optimism. And while its determined optimism for the characters of Stutter and Aimee is touching, it unfortunately turns the film a bland mixture of poignant moments.
hbui@theeagleonline.com
