{"id":587,"date":"2014-08-29T20:39:57","date_gmt":"2014-08-30T00:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=587"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T15:58:14","slug":"the-spectacular-now-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=587","title":{"rendered":"The Spectacular Now-2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Spectacular Now-2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director James Ponsoldt<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #161<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"70267439\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed August 29, 2014<\/p>\n

Grade: B<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Spectacular Now (2013) is a coming-of-age independent film that follows a romance between two unlikely high school seniors.<\/p>\n

Sutter (Miles Teller) is a popular student who takes a shine to smart loner Aimee (Shailene Woodley), and the two develop a strong bond as they each struggle with parental issues while being opposite social types.<\/p>\n

She is college-bound and motivated; he lives in the now with no thoughts of the future. But somehow they forge a connection.<\/p>\n

The film’s success lies with Teller and Woodley, who each deliver strong performances, and their chemistry is evident.<\/p>\n

At first, I didn’t buy Teller as a traditionally popular kid or Woodley as the friendless recluse, but somehow the film works because each has a rooting value.<\/p>\n

Sutter’s ex-girlfriend Cassidy, whom he still has feelings for, is played by Brie Larson, and the character is underdeveloped, unnecessary, and not much of a rooting interest for her or competition for the main couple.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, alcohol and alcoholism are touched on as the two leads drink quite heavily and regularly for being only eighteen years old, but are glossed over.<\/p>\n

I think the film is more about the romance between the two rather than any social issues.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kyle Chandler, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead deliver capable supporting performances.<\/p>\n

Shailene Woodley received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Actress, but Miles Teller received no nomination. This surprised me, as I thought he was a bit better than she was and had the meatier role.<\/p>\n

The Spectacular Now (2013) is hardly anything groundbreaking, but a nicely told story that is authentic and admirable for a teen film.<\/p>\n

Independent Spirit Award Nominations:\u00a0<\/strong>Best Female Lead-Shailene Woodley, Best Screenplay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Spectacular Now-2013 Director James Ponsoldt Starring Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley Scott’s Review #161 Reviewed August 29, 2014 Grade: B The Spectacular Now (2013) is a coming-of-age independent film that follows a romance between two unlikely high school seniors. Sutter (Miles Teller) is a popular student who takes a shine to smart loner Aimee (Shailene … Continue reading The Spectacular Now-2013<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,11649,192,41,211,222],"tags":[3950,3440,3642,1040,3951,3396,2556,2987,3949],"class_list":["post-587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2013-films","category-coming-of-age","category-dramas","category-indiefilms","category-indie-dramas","category-romantic-dramas","tag-bob-odenkirk","tag-brie-larson","tag-james-ponsoldt","tag-jennifer-jason-leigh","tag-kaitlyn-dever","tag-kyle-chandler","tag-mary-elizabeth-winstead","tag-miles-teller","tag-shailene-woodley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=587"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24541,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions\/24541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}