Everyone knows a guy like Sutter Keely (Miles Teller “21 & Over” “Project X”). He is ‘that’ guy a schmoozer among all the clicks in high school, he knows where the parties are at who is dating who and always trying to make people feel good. The Sutter Keely doppelgänger I knew in high school was a moron, when he said there is a party with two kegs, bunch of women, that was code for 3 six packs hardly any women, I always wanted to beat up that Xerox of Sutter Keely. 
That name sounds like a cheap wine, or maybe another name Sleater-Kinney kicked around before settling on Sleater-Kinney. Keely is a high school senior who looks like 16 Candles era John Cusack, and sounds like Jonah Hill. This could be maybe I’m wrong Teller’s last high school role, just like Cusack when he did “Say Anything” in reality Teller is 25, which I was kind of shocked, or I just really can’t tell people’s ages anymore, which also explains why in this movie he was able to get into bars early and often, only to be carded once, in that case Keely didn’t have his ID with him, no wait that is for script purposes.
“The Spectacular Now” based on a book by Tim Tharp is a slow building drama, as Sutter tries to figure out what he wants to do with his life, he has people who root for him including his calculus teacher Mr. Aster (Andre Royo “Bubbles” from “The Wire“). Sutter works at a suit store that is run by Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) without knowing what has happened yet on “Breaking Bad” I guess Saul got out and goes by the name “Dan”, worries about Sutter and his drinking, however the customers like him, he likes him, Dan has to put his foot down with Sutter, if he still wants to work for him.
Sutter is working on his college application letter and encounters a ‘what if’ scenario, that frankly he feels hasn’t really happened to him yet, he semi-wings an answer around the break up of him and his girlfriend Cassidy (Brie Larson). In Sutter’s mind they were perfect for one another in reality Cassidy had to finally stop.
After another night of partying Keely is in the front yard of someone’s house being poked and prodded by Aimee Finecky (Shailene Woodley “The Descendants”) relieved that Sutter isn’t dead, Aimee is doing a paper route, normally her Mom does the paper route, not this morning though Sutter offers to help, because he doesn’t know where his car is at and he needs to look for it, eventually Sutter invites Aimee to a party, where they talk about confronting her mother to let her leave for Philadelphia, where she has been accepted to College.
Flash forward a hung over (shocking) Sutter, patches together what happened at the party culminating in Sutter asking Aimee to the prom. There is nothing wrong with Aimee, she is book smart, pretty and not pretty in that 1990’s teenage comedy way, like Rachel Leigh Cook in “She’s All That” ie. a bookworm always keeps their hair in a bun wearing glasses, not knowing she is beautiful until someone points it out, not here, not in this movie which is a good thing Aimee knows who she is, she loves her family and sort of has her life planned out until Sutter came stumbling into the picture.
On the home front he has an older sister Holly (Mary Elizabeth Winstead “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”) who is living her own life with her attorney husband and his mother Sara (Jennifer Jason Leigh) things between mother and son aren’t that sound because Sutter believes that his Dad left the family because of her.
Sutter’s Dad Tommy (Kyle Chandler) is bad news for Sutter after tracking him down. Chandler’s turn as Tommy is surprising, shedding his “Coach Taylor” persona, Tommy has scraggly stubble, his hair is grown out and greasy, he isn’t a likeable person at all, you might feel sorry for him at the same time the man is a broken mess.Sutter is just as broken as his father, except he sees the warning signs and doesn’t know what to do to avoid them. For Sutter it was looking into a mirror, that spooks him especially since that things with Aimee are serious, with Sutter placating Amy in moving to Philadelphia with her.
Written by Michael H. Weber & Scott Neustadter, who also wrote (500) Days of Summer, will be teaming up again along with Teller and Woodley for 2014’s “The Fault In Our Stars” craft a screen play from Tharp’s book, that kind of makes me want to read the book to see if they toned down, the jerk factor of Sutter. Director James Ponsoldt (“Smashed“) has directed a solid feature even if I didn’t care about whether or not Sutter Keely chooses to believe in himself the way others believe in him. I wouldn’t want to hang out with him just like the doppelgänger I knew in high school. I don’t know where this guy is at now a days quite frankly I don’t care.
Rating *** Stars out of 4
Take52 