The movie wasn't smart enough to deal with the interesting protagonists it started with, and so it reverted to trope.

| Aug 28, 2019

There are scenes, moments, and dialogue in this film that ring so true that it all comes rushing back, a flood of memories and emotions and a little bit of pain.

| Jun 19, 2016

[Ponsoldt] enjoys playing with our expectations by following conventions, luring us into the sense that we know what's coming, and then swerving just a little off-road for a detour.

| Nov 4, 2013

[A] nuanced and unsentimental coming-of-age film.

| Aug 23, 2013

Teller and Woodley hum together, and the movie does their performances justice.

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 23, 2013

This coming-of-age movie should appeal to smart, sensitive young people who haven't been exposed to the better examples of the genre.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 22, 2013

So many films featuring teens seem overstimulated or familiar. This one strikes a deep, rich note and holds it.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 16, 2013

By the end of The Spectacular Now, you're not quite ready to let these characters go.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 16, 2013

James Ponsoldt's "The Spectacular Now" hits on something few movies do: an honest, believable depiction of teenagers, in love and out.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 15, 2013

A cleareyed, disarmingly tender teenage romance that bears comparison with the best of its genre, both old ("Say Anything") and new ("The Perks of Being a Wallflower").

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 15, 2013

The Spectacular Now captures the exhilaration and confusion, longing and dread of young romance with raw honesty and insight. Nothing rings false, nothing feels "cute."

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 15, 2013

It's rare hybrid: a movie that can find an audience among both adults and teens.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 15, 2013

In The Spectacular Now, the high school seniors look and talk like actual high school seniors.

Full Review | Aug 12, 2013

The movie captures the raw excitement and heartbreak of adolescence so completely that it manages to replace a seen-it-all jaded heart with the butterflies that accompany fresh experiences.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 8, 2013

It feels real, its emotions earned. It shies away from the Big Dramatic Moment for the most part, instead doling out little victories and small defeats, which is similar to the way most of us experienced our teen years.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Aug 8, 2013

Fairly close to great, a lovely movie about young people that is in no way a formula picture. Original, truthful and moving: It's not about the phenomenon of being young, but about the particular characters, who are as specific and vivid as actual people.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 8, 2013

Woodley is genuinely wonderful in it. And Teller's right behind her.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 8, 2013

Touching, funny, romantic, and so remarkably real, James Ponsoldt's teen drama captures a truth about our formative years that so many other similar films fail to come close to grasping.

| Original Score: 4.5/5.0 | Aug 8, 2013

James Ponsoldt, who directed from a script by Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter, is a bit too glib to do justice to this material, but the young actors, especially Woodley, are quite fine.

| Original Score: B | Aug 2, 2013

How these characters affect each other's decisions, and ultimate destiny, is at the heart of Neustadter and Weber's screenplay, brought to life with admirable honesty and restraint by James Ponsoldt...

| Aug 2, 2013