I live in Athens, Georgia, the location where this movie was filmed and the hometown of the director, James Ponsoldt. I loved Ponsoldt's previous movie, Smashed, which by the way featured a stunning performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays Sutter's sister in this movie. So I really, really wanted to like Spectacular Now.
But what a huge disappointment. Sometimes when I watch a movie, I know in the first five minutes that I'm not going to like it. This was unfortunately one of those movies. My biggest problem was the awkward, underwritten dialog. Some scenes were almost painful to watch. I know that the awkwardness was supposed to make the movie more realistic. But if there are teenagers that talk like this, I've never known any. The dialog here, especially in some scenes, is more like improvisation than reality.
My other problem is that we are initially led to believe Aimee is a serious, bookish, "good" kid. But the way the story develops and the way Shailene Woodley plays the part, Aimee comes across as shallow, giggly, gullible, and immature, not to mention lacking in character. Having never taken a drink of alcohol, once she falls under Sutter's spell, she zips right on past beer and goes straight to regularly drinking the hard stuff without giving it a second thought, as if she's never even heard the word responsibility. Sure there are plenty of teens like Aimee, and Woodley does a good job of portraying her. But we see enough of teens like this in commercial Hollywood movies. I was hoping for a more interesting character in this independent film.
But what a huge disappointment. Sometimes when I watch a movie, I know in the first five minutes that I'm not going to like it. This was unfortunately one of those movies. My biggest problem was the awkward, underwritten dialog. Some scenes were almost painful to watch. I know that the awkwardness was supposed to make the movie more realistic. But if there are teenagers that talk like this, I've never known any. The dialog here, especially in some scenes, is more like improvisation than reality.
My other problem is that we are initially led to believe Aimee is a serious, bookish, "good" kid. But the way the story develops and the way Shailene Woodley plays the part, Aimee comes across as shallow, giggly, gullible, and immature, not to mention lacking in character. Having never taken a drink of alcohol, once she falls under Sutter's spell, she zips right on past beer and goes straight to regularly drinking the hard stuff without giving it a second thought, as if she's never even heard the word responsibility. Sure there are plenty of teens like Aimee, and Woodley does a good job of portraying her. But we see enough of teens like this in commercial Hollywood movies. I was hoping for a more interesting character in this independent film.