Sundance 2013 Movie Review: The Spectacular Now - Page 2

It amazes me just how fantastic Woodley can be. Anyone who’s ever caught an episode of The Secret Life of the American Teenager knows that she’s just a good actress on a horrible show. When given the right material and a director who actually cares about the end product, it’s no wonder she comes off as such a surprise in something like The Spectacular Now or The Descendants. At first Teller plays like a low-rent Shia LaBeouf, but finally comes into his own as the film gets more serious in the last third.

Writers Neustadter and Weber clearly know how to write romantic comedies with a fair share of drama between this and (500) Days of Summer and should stick to what they’re good at. There’s even a line towards the end that has to be a reference to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World seeing how it’s delivered with a smile by Envy Adams (Larson) herself and the film also features Ramona Flowers (Winstead). Hopefully, the film wins something at this year’s festival, because The Spectacular Now feels more like The Spectacular Wow, and I can’t wait to see it again.

Article Author: Cinenerd

A Utah based writer, born and raised in Salt Lake City, UT for better and worse. Cinenerd has had an obsession with film his entire life, finally able to write about them since 2009, and the only thing he loves more are his wife and their two wiener dogs (Beatrix Kiddo and Pixar Animation). …

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