James Ponsoldt returned to Sundance this year with The Spectacular Now, and he most certainly did not disappoint.
Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley impressed critics and audiences alike, coming away with the Special Jury Prize for their joint-lead performances. And now the film has begun its limited release in the US, already doing solid business for eOne in its first two weeks. And with the movie set to expand into more theatres on Friday, a new TV spot has landed online.
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.
Brie Larson, Kyle Chandler, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Bob Odenkirk complete the cast nicely alongside the leading duo.
And Ponsoldt (Smashed) is directing from a script co-written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber ((500) Days of Summer), based on the original best-selling novel of the same name by Tim Tharp.
The Spectacular Now is now playing in select US cinemas, and will continue to expand this coming Friday, August 16th, and in the weeks to come. Still no word yet on a UK release date, but hopefully it will be crossing the Atlantic in the next couple of months.
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