Movie Review: The Spectacular Now

So I finally watched The Spectacular Now last night and I just want to quickly share my thoughts. I haven't read the book yet, and I know I should've probably done that first, but I just really felt like watching the movie. I didn't really know what it was about and I expected some cute teenage romance. It surprised me, though, because it was quite different from what I had imagined.

It follows Sutter Keely who is this upbeat, popular guy who doesn't really care about anything other than enjoying what he has right now. But we soon find out that his carefree attitude towards everything just helps him to avoid all the things he doesn't want to have to cope with, like not knowing his dad. After his girlfriend breaks up with him, he meets Aimee who is completely different from him. At first, he wants to 'help' her out by being her friend or something like that (I didn't really get that part) but of course things get a little more complicated.

Even from how I just described the movie, I would still expect a cutesy romantic story, but it's really not. I don't really know how to describe it, it just runs a lot deeper than what I expected. Since I really  don't want to spoil anything for you if you, like me, don't really know what the story is about, I'm just going to say that it left me rather sad than happy.

The acting was phenomenal in my opinion. It felt very real and honest and I loved how there was lots of awkward laughter. The conversations didn't feel superficial or simply well-rehearsed, they rather seemed like they could be happening in everyday-life, and isn't that what acting should be like? Also, there wasn't a lot of background music, which really matched the setting and story of the movie and I loved that. Sometimes it gets a little too much when there's always music that's trying to tell you what to feel. The Spectacular Now made me cry a little without a sad song playing at the right moment. It's not that hard for a movie to make me cry, though, but still.

Overall I really liked this movie and it was surprisingly different from what I had been expecting. One problem I had with it was that I didn't always feel like I quite understood what was happening. That made it a little harder to connect with the story. Also, not much actually happens throughout the story and I can imagine that that bothers some people; for me it was okay, though. I might still pick up the book sometime and hopefully that would help me understand the whole story a little better, but I wasn't that blown away by the movie that I feel the need to start the book right now.

Have you watched The Spectacular Now? 

If so, what are your thoughts?

Thank you for reading!