Screened as part of NZIFF 2013

The Spectacular Now 2013

Directed by James Ponsoldt

This refreshingly unaffected high school comedy-romance was a Sundance hit. Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley shared the Grand Jury Acting Award playing a popular boy with booze issues and the shy girl he takes a shine to.

USA In English
95 minutes DCP

Director

Producers

Michelle Krumm
,
Andrew Lauren
,
Shawn Levy
,
Tom McNulty

Screenplay

Scott Neustadter
,
Michael H. Weber. Based on the novel by Tim Tharp

Photography

Jess Hall

Editor

Darrin Navarro

Production designer

Linda Sena

Costume designer

Peggy Stamper

Sound

Jesse Ehredt
,
Tim Limer

Music

Rob Simonsen

With

Miles Teller (Sutter Keely)
,
Shailene Woodley (Aimee Finicky)
,
Brie Larson (Cassidy)
,
Jennifer Jason Leigh (Ms Keely)
,
Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Holly Keely)
,
Kyle Chandler (Mr Keely)
,
Dayo Okeniyi (Marcus)
,
Bob Odenkirk (Sutter’s boss)
,
Andre Royo (Mr Aster)
,
Kaitlyn Dever (Krystal)
,
Masam Holden (Ricky)
,
Gary Weeks (Joe)
,
Whitney Goin (Mrs Finicky)
,
Nicci Faires (Tara)

Festivals

Sundance 2013

Awards

Special Jury Prize (Dramatic), Sundance Film Festival 2013

Elsewhere

This Sundance hit is a blessedly unaffected high school romance enacted with lovely directness by a superb duo of young performers. Miles Teller stars as a popular, all-round likeable boy whose easy-going charm may be more dependent on the hip flask in his pocket than he or anyone else realises. When his girlfriend tires of the good times, an unlikely new romance dawns with a much more introspective and conservative girl (Shailene Woodley). Teller and Woodley shared acting honours at Sundance for their roles.

“Director James Ponsoldt has the uncanny ability to travel along well-worn cinematic paths and make them feel fresh again... He does the same miraculous thing with this young adult coming-of-age drama, gracefully confronting dependency in its many forms. Lead actor Miles Teller is a revelation, winning our sympathies even as we bristle at his choices. Screenwriters Scott Neustadter and

Michael Weber ((500) Days of Summer) compose a convincing whirlwind romance that’s filled with dialogue that pops with personality and emotions that sock you in the stomach.” — Jeff Meyers, The Stranger

“Teller, cute but not traditionally handsome… makes Sutter uniquely irresistible, and the chemistry he has with co-star Woodley, who brings a perfect repertoire of nervous giggles and awkward mannerisms to her in-bloom Aimee, is so authentic that if somebody could promise not to ruin it, we would beg for The Spectacular Now to be turned into a television series so that we could watch them some more… [It is] is a smaller film than Say AnythingDazed and ConfusedBreakfast Club, etc, but it belongs in the canon.” — Phoebe Reilly, Spin