REVIEW - 'The Spectacular Now'

'The Spectacular Now' (R) ***1/2

Sutter (Miles Teller, from the 'Footloose' remake) lives in the now.  He's the life of the party, self-obsessed, has a steady job at a men's clothing store, is a borderline alcoholic, and has no plans for the future.  After his girlfriend dumps him and he goes on a drinking binge, Sutter is woken up in a stranger's front yard by Aimee (Shailene Woodley, from 'The Descendants'), a not-so-typical nice girl from his high school who might just be the one to change his philosophy on life.

It's about that time of year when I start hearing about and reading about smaller, independent movies getting glowing praise from various film festivals.  Usually once it finally gets to a movie theater near me, I'll try to go see it.  These are a bit of a mixed bag.  Sometimes they're great, such as 'Safety Not Guaranteed', 'The Artist' and 'The Tree of Life', '  Sometimes they're okay, like 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' and 'Lawless'.  And other times they're so pretentious and slow that they just make for one very miserable experience in the theater, such as 'The Master' and 'The American'.

So with all that said, what did I think about 'The Spectacular Now'?  I thought it was very very good, and honestly one of the better movies I've seen this year.  The actors all give great performances, notably Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley.  It's funny, though it is more of a drama.  The humor flows naturally without being forced, and the dramatic scenes are handled well and feel realistic.  And that's another great thing about the movie:  For the most part, much like (most of) 'Perks of Being A Wallflower' it's realistic.  You can actually see these characters existing and acting this way and talking this way in a real life.

The only negative thing I can think of is that the movie opens a little slowly and it doesn't really pick up until Aimee wakes up Sutter in the front yard.  But from there on out, I had a smile on my face for most of the movie.

Overall 'The Spectacular Now' is a very good/nearly great realistic movie that's funny, sad, and sweet with great performances from the two leads.