It's time to play my favorite game: is Miles Teller actually a good actor or am I still riding the high that I get every time I rewatch Whiplash? James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now is an interesting romantic drama that touches on many, many themes; often too many for its own good. While the basic premise of this film is interesting enough, the way that the writers developed it left me with a lot of questions. Adapted from the novel by Tim Tharp of the same name, this movie feels mostly like a conglomeration of everything that audiences have seen in this genre of film before. While that is not necessarily a criticism as much as it is a dull observation, I was thankfully still able to find many things that I loved about this film, from (most) of the performances to the cinematography and certain elements of the writing in-between.
Sutter (Miles Teller) is your typical, extroverted, high school partier that has troubles with his grades as much as he does his on-and-off girlfriend Cassidy (Brie Larson). When he meets and connects with the average "nice girl" Aimee (Shailene Woodley), he is forced to re-evaluate various parts of his life and what he really wants out of it. What I loved most about this film are the many themes that it touches upon throughout its runtime. While the multiple subplots and developed relationships tend to get messy and unfocused, I did appreciate how Ponsoldt attempted to handle all of them. The script, written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber could not decide on one element of the drama for these characters to focus on. I do understand that in order for these characters to be more than one-dimensional that there needs to be multiple aspects to them, but I feel like these characters were not given enough sensical time to develop. Sutter dealt with his reluctance to give up his ex-girlfriend Cassidy, his nonexisting relationship with his estranged father Tommy (Kyle Chandler), and his newfound love for the best character Aimee. However, these personal conflicts were not paced very well on-screen and instead worked against his favor, making Sutter seem like an asshole. It was very difficult for me to sympathize with his actions and emotional outbursts, but I feel like I would be able to if he wasn't written so sporadically. Perhaps it is also due to Teller's stale performance that created the distance between me and him.
Aimee, on the other hand, was portrayed excellently by a superb performance from Shailene Woodley, but was sadly not given enough of her own time to develop as a character interesting enough to keep my attention. Her entire arc revolved around making Sutter happy and doing anything for him while only having a slight touch of her own personality. Not to mention that the minor details and complexities regarding her character were almost instantly thrown away just for the sake of her falling head over heels for an absolute buffoon. I feel like one of the main issues plaguing this film is the incredible cast but horrible casting. Each actress and actor involved in this film are amazing in their own right, but they just don't have the greatest chemistry. Especially since Teller and Larson look far too old to be graduating high school seniors. Woodley and her character's best friend Kristal (Kaitlyn Dever) were the only ones who were cast relatively well, as they actually come off as teenagers. The rest of this cast is loaded as well, including Jennifer Jason Leigh as Sutter's mother, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Sutter's older sister, and Bob Odenkirk as Sutter's boss. The issue is that while each performance is decent in themselves, they only exist to serve Sutter's story, which is troubled by design. This made the conclusion of the film so ambiguous and unsatisfying that I wish would have been explored more. Ponsoldt's biggest flaw in this film was ending it right where it could have gotten more interesting. The first two acts of this movie seem to be relatively lighthearted and funny but as the third act becomes self-exploratory and actually interesting, it is abandoned for a quick resolution.
Pieces of this film that I did love, however, were its theme of alcoholism and the cinematography from Jess Hall. One of this film's consistently built-upon themes was the characters' use of alcohol. Sutter is always seen with a flask drinking away his problems and ignoring what is right in front of him while he inadvertently affects everyone around him. I loved how this film was unafraid to show that teenagers do in fact drink and that it can become an immense danger to others. This is especially representative in one scene before prom when Sutter gives a gift to Aimee which ends up being a flask full of booze. To me, this symbolized Sutter passing on his problems to her and plaguing her with issues that necessarily did not need to exist. As frustrating as these characters' dependence on alcohol can be, it was gripping to have it in the back of my mind knowing the dangers that it causes. The cinematography from Jess Hall was also fantastic. Many extended shots created the easygoing yet tense feel of many of these scenes. Regardless of the lighting, Hall made sure to show how these characters interacted in their most basic forms. It did not exactly match the dialogue of each scene, but it added a nice layer of authenticity that made this film's environment welcoming.
James Ponsoldt's romantic drama may not be as spectacular as the title suggests, but I adored this movie and the world that it built. I would still recommend The Spectacular Now as it contains many of the elements that make a film of this genre engaging. Despite its inconsistent mediocrity throughout, this movie is definitely worth checking out.
My Rating: ★★★
No comments:
Post a Comment