The Spectacular Now - movie review

          “The Spectacular Now” is a wonderful movie of a book by the same name written by Tim Tharp. It’s the story of two unlikely teenagers who meet and fall in love.  One is out-going and practically an alcoholic and the other is quiet, a peripheral nerd with little life experience.

          The movie stars Miles Teller as the outgoing Sutter and Shailene Woodley as the quiet Aimee.  (Shailene played the older daughter in “The Descendants” with George Clooney.) While Aimee has dreams of a future, Sutter lives in the splendor of what he perceives to be a spectacular now. Both have family issues, but what teenager doesn’t?

          “The Spectacular Now” is a John Huston redux – a coming-of-age movie which comes of age with sophisticated acting and a more complicated story line. It wasn’t  as predictable as such classics as “You’ve Got Mail” and “The Breakfast Club” but it was just as entertaining if not more so. I believe this flick will appeal to people of all ages. It got rave reviews at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival with critics gushing great things for the film and its actors.

          I loved it…I probably will see it again. Even though I know what happens I’ll probably still hold my breath a little when each of these two young people comes to their own personal fork in the road.

Four out of five possible ticket stubs



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