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Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller in The Spectacular Now (2013)

Metacritic reviews

The Spectacular Now

82

Metascore

42 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
  • 90
    VarietyRob Nelson
    VarietyRob Nelson
    Skillfully adapted from Tim Tharp's novel, evocatively lensed in the working-class neighborhoods of Athens, Ga., and tenderly acted by Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, this bittersweet ode to the moment of childhood's end builds quietly to a pitch-perfect finale.
  • 90
    Village VoiceAlan Scherstuhl
    Village VoiceAlan Scherstuhl
    Director James Ponsoldt gives us long, loose, single-shot courtship scenes, each a marvel of staging and performance.
  • 88
    McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger Moore
    McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger Moore
    Witty, warm and wistful and in just the right proportions, Spectacular is the best-acted film of the summer.
  • 80
    The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthy
    The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthy
    Ordinary in some ways and extraordinary in others, The Spectacular Now benefits from an exceptional feel for its main characters on the parts of the director and lead actors.
  • 80
    The Guardian
    The Guardian
    Ponsoldt elicits remarkably strong performances from his two young leads, who display a depth of feeling that's breathtaking in its simplicity and honest. There's an inherent chemistry here that's both disarming and refreshing.
  • 80
    New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
    New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
    Most teen movies are cocktails of melancholy and elation. This one is best at its most un-transcendent —when it most evokes that period when we never knew what we were supposed to do with the pain.
  • 80
    The New YorkerDavid Denby
    The New YorkerDavid Denby
    The Spectacular Now goes a little soft at the end, but most of it has the melancholy sense of life just passing by — until, that is, someone has the courage to grab it and make it take some meaning and form.
  • 80
    Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
    Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
    Nothing about The Spectacular Now feels easy or After-School Special, although it tidies up too much (the personal essay should be retired as a device).
  • 75
    The PlaylistRodrigo Perez
    The PlaylistRodrigo Perez
    The Spectacular Now is wise beyond its years, charismatic, measured and authentic in its depiction of the pains, confusions and insecurities of the teenage experience, and while its deliberate rhythm may prove to be a harder sell among the teen crowd, it’s a valuable and honest film that’s worth the investment.
  • 63
    Slant MagazineAndrew Schenker
    Slant MagazineAndrew Schenker
    Given the film's early promise, it's unfortunate how it turns into a largely reductive Freudian character piece in which the main character has to come to terms with his old man.
  • See all 42 reviews on Metacritic.com
  • See all external reviews for The Spectacular Now

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