Of the many films that premiered at Sundance this year, James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now was by far one of the most well-received.
Ponsoldt’s leading duo, Miles Teller (Project X) and Shailene Woodley (The Descendants), came away from the festival winning the Special Jury Prize for their performances, which definitely lends substance to the incredibly positive early reviews.
A24 will be releasing the film in the States later this summer, and now they’ve released the excellent first trailer and poster.
Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) lives in the now. It’s a good place for him. A high school senior, charming and self-possessed, he’s the life of the party, loves his job at a men’s clothing store, and has no plans for the future. A budding alcoholic, he’s never far from his supersized, whisky-fortified thirst-master cup. But after being dumped by his girlfriend, Sutter gets drunk and wakes up on a lawn with Aimee Finicky (Shailene Woodley) hovering over him. She’s different: the “nice girl” who reads science fiction and doesn’t have a boyfriend. While Amy has dreams of a future, Sutter lives in the impressive delusion of a spectacular now, yet somehow, they’re drawn together.
This adaptation of Tim Tharp’s novel The Spectacular Now captures the insecurity and confusion of adolescence without looking for tidy truths.
Teller and Woodley are joined by a terrific cast, starring alongside Brie Larson, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Bob Odenkirk.
Ponsoldt is directing from a script co-written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who co-wrote the brilliant (500) Days of Summer, adapting the original novel of the same name by Tim Tharp.
The Spectacular Now will begin its limited release in the US on August 2nd, and is sure to open wider across the States in successive weeks. No word yet on a UK release date, but I’m really hoping that it will be crossing the Atlantic come September time.
[yframe url=’www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dCfbBwFI2Y’]
