Remember when high school movies used to be meaningful? You would to connect with every richly developed character and the movie would effect you in a way that would meaning something to you for the rest of your life. The movies were funny, romantic, and also a little sad. They didn't trivialize the emotions of teenagers because they were young. The teenagers in these movies had actual, real problems and they persevered because of that or in spite of it. John Hughes more or less made an art form out of making movies like this and when you talk about the greatest high school movies of all time, you can't not mention him. His films are very 1980's but also feel timeless. Then something shifted and high school movies turned into a joke - an endless parade of raunchy jokes and oh-so-much alcohol. But lately I think the tide is turning again. Last year, The Perks of Being a Wallflower was one of my favorite movies of the year. It even made my year end Top Ten list against some pretty heavy competition. This year, you've got The Spectacular Now, a movie that is just as great as it's title. And while it features all the cliches you have come to know and love from tired genre movies (cute boy falls for not-so-pretty-until-you-really-look-at-her girl, the prom, graduation), it never feels recycled. It always feels fresh and daring.
Miles Teller stars as Sutter, the most popular boy in school. But here's the rub - he's popular because, wait for it, he's nice. He's nice to everyone. He is quite possibly the most likable boy in school. He has the biggest heart and is just as likely to talk to the school jock about sports as he is to talk to the school nerd about anime books. Of course, he has his demons, mainly the fact that he is almost always drinking. When his super popular, life of the party girlfriend (Brie Larson) breaks up with him, he goes into a downward spiral which leaves him passed out and hungover on a lawn where he's found by Aimee (Shailene Woodley), a shy girl he goes to school with. She is sweet and helpful to him. The transformation of the not-so-pretty girl into the pretty girl isn't physical here. Aimee is already beautiful (Sutter even tells her this because she doesn't know it herself). Unlike every other high school movie, her transformation is purely mental. Sutter gives her something no one else can - self confidence. At first, Sutter doesn't have the best of intentions. He hangs out with Aimee for selfish reasons - maybe she can help him with math, which he's failing, maybe he can make his ex jealous. But he begins to fall for her, although at a way slower pace than the way she falls for him, which is head over heels and fast.
The Spectacular Now has a great script and the performances feel raw and real. Everyone is talking about how this is Woodley's breakthrough performance and I agree. She is truly a revelation. However, more people should be talking about Teller, who, for me, is truly the star. He makes Sutter so damn likable that even when you question his motives (which is pretty often, actually), you never stop rooting for him to make the right decisions and clean up his act. He has so much charm, so much charisma and his chemistry with Woodley just oozes off of the screen. It feels less like a movie than a snap shot into the lives of these kids and their struggles. Aimee is supporting her family and trying to stand up to her mom so she can go away to college. Sutter has a bag load of daddy issues from his father abandoning him. They find each other in a way that feels real. I'm not sure I see this movie as a romance movie. To me their relationship is failing right from the start. But it is romantic if you think about it in terms of how they change each other's lives for the better. The movie ends enigmatically, not really knowing what happens for this couple, but either way, this is the first kind of love, the good kind that may hurt a little at the time but stays with your forever, shaping who you are as a person.
Of course, the movie isn't perfect. About two-thirds of the way through, Kyle Chandler shows up like a tornado. He steals the goddamn movie away from everyone with his deadbeat dad (miles away from his unforgettable turn as Coach Taylor on Friday Night Lights). You can immediately tell where Sutter gets his charisma because Chandler, as his dad, charms every person he meets in the movie, and the audience. And he's a terribly unlikable character, but, my Lord, if you don't want to know more about him, if you don't want to follow his character to the depths of the earth. His performance is so powerful that I'm sure it will stay so fresh and vivid in my mind for months to come. The problem is, that after he's gone, it's sort of like all the air gets sucked out of the movie. From that point on, the movie relies too heavily on melodrama and never fully recovers its footing. Still, two-thirds of a damn near perfect movie is still a pretty great accomplishment, and a feeble third act can't stop me from recommending this movie so very strongly. Go see it now. It's one of the years best.
Grade: B+
Labels: Brie Larson, Kyle Chandler, Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley
