Review of the Reviews

The Spectacular Now (2013)

Even with nothing to do on a Saturday night, spending $3.99 to watch a film On Demand felt pretty steep considering I could not even get myself to finish the book that it was based on. The Spectacular Now, directed by James Ponsoldt, still hooked me into watching it for the sole fact that I was curious as to how the story, that I had started reading, ended. It also helped that the two main actors, Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller, would soon be starring in the anticipated box office hit Divergent and I wanted to see their acting skills.

While the average Rotten Tomatoes audience member would give The Spectacular Now a 77%, which I would consider reasonable, most credible critics on the "Tomatometer" give the film a 93%. Similar popularity stands among critics on Metacritic, who give the film an 82/100 on average.

Film critic Stephanie Merry, for The Washington Post, took a liking to the film and reviewed it as such. After introducing the director and the genre of the film, Merry takes the time to give a lengthy summary of the story that is The Spectacular Now. Intertwined into the summary are positive nods to the story line and the actor's work. Woodley's portrayal of her awkward character Aimee was not just well done to Merry, but "both sweetly familiar and refreshing in its naturalism, as if the film has unlocked an emotional time capsule". The same appreciation goes for Teller and his work as Sutter, a more "charismatic and quick-witted" character. Of course the writers and book adapters of the film, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, received praise as well for how they kept "the focus only on events that strain or bolster this rookie relationship". This focus on the stars and directors takes away a chance to really discuss the issues in the story, leaving the readers with nothing else to think about but the typical theme elements of a coming-of-age film, like "raw excitement" and a "revisiting [of] reality". All of this praise keeps a light and positive tone, much opposite to a review from someone who did not like the film.

Taking a much different approach to the reviewing of The Spectacular Now, Kyle Smith for The New York Post keeps it short and simple when describing his distaste for the film. The critic opens with a joke of sorts saying, "'The Spectacular Now' begins like 'Say Anything' but soon turns into 'Drink Anything'"-alluding to how the main character Sutter drinks a lot and even gets innocent Aimee to drink with him. He continues with a humorous but detailed summary of the film and how the actors did in their roles. Smith manages to keep his review to a short three paragraphs, ending like how it started-bashing the main character's "alcoholism" and how that is the real lesson in the film. 

As someone who has seen the film, I can relate to Merry's point in how Shailene Woodley portrayed Aimee, because "it’s awkward, but not in the way we’ve come to expect from movies". It is much too often that people take the character of an awkward quiet girl and turn her into the nosey brainiac the no one wants to be around. Woodley did Aimee justice and it is nice to see that other people agree. Merry also pointed out the movie's "quiet moments and easy pace", which I took notice to and liked as well. With Smith's approach, although he did take it a bit too far, his attention on the fact that Sutter was "the last person in the movie theater to figure out that he needs to quit boozing" shows an important part of the story and Sutter's life. Most coming-of-age stories do not have that aspect and it seems like he always had a drink in his hand. 

Thinking back to before I saw the film, it would be easy to have gravitated toward the bad review. Unrelated to the fact that the book already left a bad taste in my mouth, Smith's negative review is short and to the point (just not so sweet). His use of humor and relaxed vocabulary makes it feel like less of an official review and more like one of my friends was telling me about the movie. 

If I were to take on a job as a movie critic, I would be sure to include a quick summary of The Spectacular Now that highlighted how the actors had the challenging task of showing their character's growth as time went on and how the film dealt with not just young love, but the partner's lives separately as they dealt with growing up. Unlike either of the reviews previously mentioned, I would mention both the good and the bad of the film. Neither Merry nor Smith mentioned anything that could possibly oppose either of their opinions. Seeing that the film kept my attention until the end, while the book did not, I would justify some bad parts of the film-most of which involve slow scenes or random plot twists-with that they were just working with what they were given. The Spectacular Now is a solid 3.5 in my book and I would fully justify that rating, the good and the bad, in a review.