Review: The Spectacular Now “Are the cool kids really cool?”

I recently went to go see The Spectacular Now. Granted it was game 2 of the World Series, but after the performance I saw in game 1, I figured I had a much better chance of enjoying the movie. I knew the movie was getting a bunch of hype. But I didn’t know if said hype was warranted or not. There is a difference between a “good” movie and a “hipster good” movie. Luckily for myself and the 4 Caucasians in the theater the movie fell into the former category and not the later. Sutter (Miles Teller) is the life of the party and he knows it. He’s a senior in high school, he’s good looking enough to get “the girl”, but not so much of an Adonis where it is off putting and he can’t relate to the regular high school student, he works at a men's clothing store, not the GAP but one that sells actual suits for grown men. Sutter loves everyone. That is one of his problems. He is so contented with the nature of people and of his life that he never questions its significance or direction. His mother Sara (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is the typical “cool” mom. The audience can tell she gives a damn but she also has enough spice to her character to know she can relate. Dad is MIA and that ends up being a good thing. His sister Holly (Mary Elizabeth Winestead) is recently married and seems happy being a stepford wife. Sutter has a girlfriend at the beginning of the film, Cassidy (Brie Larson), and he thinks they are a perfect match. They like to party, they like to fornicate, they are photogenically compatible. I mean, what else is there for the Facebook generation. But, unlike Sutter, Cassidy actually gives a shit about her life past high school and decides to force herself away from Sutter. Sutter has another love in his life and her name is booze. Sutter reminds me of what Nicholas Cage’s character in Leaving Las Vegas probably was like in high school. He is affable, adorable, and increasingly dependent on the liquid confidence of alcohol to sustain his existence. Sutter drunkenly drives into the mailbox of Aimee Finnecky (Shaielene Woodley). Aimee is the epitome of the good girl. She is academically focused but universeally kind and tolerant. She is lacking in pretension but does carry a hint of sophistication. Anyone who has seen the actress knows damn well that if she put on makeup she would have been prom queen, homecoming queen, and whatever the hell else Ms. Popularity contest winner she would want. But like all movies, we have to suspend our disbelief and pretend that the “homely girl”, who is really a very attractive person, is homely. Sutter, being single and kind of lonely, takes Aimee under his wing. The logic for this move is never fully explained. He's one of the most popular people in school, yet he aligns himself with a social pariah. He engages her first as a friend and geometry tutor. Yeah, Sutter is a senior taking geometry. That should tell you about his scholastic achievements in the film. Aimee agrees and after a day at a high school party, with multiple kegs of course, their friendship turns into a courtship. Sutter, in a slightly drunken haze, tells Aimee how pretty she is and then asks her to prom. There was a scene in the movie that is getting a lot of buzz because of its authenticity. There is a love scene in the movie between Aimee and Sutter, because how else do you prove your affection for someone in high school without exchanging bodily fluids. Let me present to you exhibit 1 of why this is total bs. What kind of a “good girl” has sex with the class drunk within a week or two of dating?!? Exhibit 2) Aimee, being the Girl Scout that she is has a dresser full of condoms under her bed. Really?!? THAT is NOT an amateur move. The scene did play out very well, despite my gripes. There was nervousness and a sensitivity that let the audience believe that these were actually kids and not porn stars. That was a pleasant surprise. The film progresses with Aimee getting accepted into a college in Philadelphia and starting to encompass part of Sutter’s mantra of “enjoying the now”. Aimee stands up to her overbearing yet non-existent mother and she even gets her own flask as a graduation present. The book that the film is based on by Tim Tharp goes more into the metamorphosis of Aimee and the effects that Sutter’s alcoholism is having on her. In the film, she seems to have a grasp on it and is just being young and dumb with her new boyfriend. I won’t spoil the ending or the performance by Kyle Chandler, who is definitely a standout, but I will say the film does what all movies should hope to do but seldom succeed in doing and that is lifting up the genre. What I mean is this. Most people have seen the traditional coming of age story and there is a reason why they still resonate in the psyches of most young people. What The Spectacular Now does is take the archetypes that are made popular in the coming of age genre and make them more realistic. Sometimes the popular kid isn’t popular for a good reason. Sometimes the good girl can act like the bad girl. And the facet of the movie that I most enjoyed was showing how the high school experience, while joyous, is brief and there are much bigger and better adventures to be had. All too often high school is seen as the best time of one’s life. If the best years of my life were between 14-18, what the hell does that say about adulthood?