You might not think a movie called The Spectacular Now (2013) is a tragedy.  After all, and apologies for spoiling the ending so soon, it does have a happy conclusion.  It is how we get to that point that forces me to give it such a dire label.  It also underscores the importance of prayer.  As I have grown in Charismatic worship, it has brought into focus how much woundedness is linked to sin.  Those wounds can be healed, but only with God’s help.  In our prayer groups, when we pray over each other, there is a phenomenon that occurs called resting in the Spirit.  It is a moment when the infilling of the Holy Spirit is so intense that you lose yourself.  If you are standing up and there is no one to catch you, you are headed straight to the floor.  Luckily, we always have someone on hand to gently bring that person to the ground.  While there, we often refer to it as God’s operating table.  Of course, such are the variety of relationships with God that not everyone will experience that sensation, and that is okay.  The bigger problem is not presenting that which is hurting to God.  Then it leads to the kinds of behaviors you will see in my description of today’s film.

The tragic behavior mentioned is on display in the opening scenes of The Spectacular Now.  Sutter Keely (Miles Teller), an eighteen-year-old high school senior, sits in front of his computer, drinking beer and writing a profanity laced answer to a question on a college application.  The reason for his mixing of booze with his potential future involves him reminiscing about his recent break up with Cassidy Roy (Brie Larson), the girl he believes is perfect for him.  As cuts in this initial montage demonstrate, it is more about the physical than any real emotional connection.  And people wonder why the Church says sex before marriage is a bad idea.  It should be noted, however, that Sutter is not a bad guy.  Cassidy dumping him takes place when she catches him in the car with another girl.  He is in this position because he is helping his friend, Ricky (Masam Holden), hook up, sticking with her friend while Ricky has some alone time with the female.  Despite what he is typing into the computer, Sutter takes this loss relatively well, though there is a surge in his alcoholism.  The morning following a bender, he awakens on the lawn of Aimee Finecky (Shailene Woodley).  Though he does not recognize her at first, he offers to assist with her paper route, partially to find where he had left his car.  They have fun delivering the periodicals around the neighborhood, and soon he is asking her for help with his geometry homework.  The shy Aimee is taken by Sutter’s gregariousness, while he keeps telling himself, and Ricky, that he is not serious about her.  Nonetheless, the amount of time Aimee and Sutter spend with one another continues to grow.  It has him asking her to go to prom with him over the objections of not only Ricky, but her best friend, Krystal (Kaitlyn Dever).  It is also not a good sign that he remains devoted to Cassidy even though they are still separate.  Despite these issues, a romance develops between them, particularly since they encourage one another.  She is having trouble confronting her mother about going away for college next year, and he wants his mom, Sara Keely (Jennifer Jason Leigh), to tell him about his dad, Tommy Keely (Kyle Chandler).  When Aimee announces that she has fulfilled her side of the bargain they made regarding standing up for themselves, Sutter realizes he must do the same.  Because Sara does not want to discuss her ex-husband with her son, Sutter turns to his sister, Holly Keely (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).  Aimee goes with Sutter to visit Tommy, the first time they will have seen each other in over ten years.  Tommy takes the two teenagers to a bar, buys them beer, and then abandons them when Sutter starts asking tough questions about why his dad left.  The experience shakes Sutter because in Tommy’s ramblings about the so-called benefits of only thinking about the here-and-now, the son sees a lot of himself in his father.  On the way home, Aimee tries to talk about it, but Sutter forces her to get out of the car, shouting that he is no good for her.  Their argument is suddenly ended when a passing car clips Aimee.  Full disclosure: I recoiled in shock at this moment as I did not see it coming.  Praise God, it turns out to only be a broken arm.  Being the angel that she is, she forgives him, understanding the emotional strain he is under.  Then again, he does little to help himself.  After graduating, instead of going away with her to school in Philadelphia, he does not show up at the bus station to travel with her.  Next, his boss at work, Dan (Bob Odenkirk), fires him for the teenager’s constant drinking while on the job.  Unsurprisingly, Sutter decides to drown his sorrows in more booze.  Somehow making it home while driving intoxicated, he yells at his mother for not caring for him.  Instead of getting defensive, she responds with compassion, (unintentionally) modeling Mary.  Sara reinforces all the good qualities in her son, which calms the young man.  With a new clarity, Sutter revisits the college application with which we started, doing away with what he had said before in favor of talking about his flaws on how he has learned to overcome them.  We close with Sutter driving to Philadelphia and surprising Aimee outside of class.

Like I said in the introduction, The Spectacular Now has a happy ending.  I am not sure Sutter deserves it.  I am also not God, and only He has the right to judge such things.  The drinking, though, is a major part of why I am an unsure about how I feel, regardless of his qualities.  Everyone has good in them.  That is how God created us.  What made me uncomfortable, aside from his alcoholism, is how he entices Aimee into his habit.  You may have a substance abuse problem if the special gift you buy your underage girlfriend is monogrammed flask.  I have been going through the “Catechism in a Year” podcast with Father Michael Schmitz this year, and I am currently on the portion that deals with sin.  These offenses to God are made worse when you entice another person to do the same thing.  On that same note, they have sex with one another.  She had been doing fine with her life until he came into it, and then for most of their time together, he is still pining for Cassidy.  Now, I do not mean to be as critical as I am probably sounding at this moment.  There is value in this film despite its evident warts.  For instance, Sara points out Sutter’s best asset when she reminds him that her son loves everyone.  She supports this by giving examples of how, as a boy, he tried to bring home the destitute to provide them with a home.  That is Christ-like behavior.  Along those same lines, another thing Father Schmitz said recently is that modern society makes imitating Jesus difficult.  Why do the difficult when there are so many quick fixes like alcohol, drugs, and/or sex?  The obvious answer is found in the word “quick.”  As in the title, the “now” is quick, always here one moment and gone the next.  God is forever.  Sutter loves everyone in the present because it feels good to be laughing and always having a good time.  There is nothing wrong with such things (to a degree, of course) as long as you do not let them become the sole purpose of your existence.  That is why Tommy left Sara, and it is the same path down which Sutter is headed.  It is when the good times stop that he had a problem.  As such, we should appreciate what selfless love can do for a person, embodied in mom and Aimee.  The care they display is transformative, and shows what kindness can do for a person.  I may not like a lot of what goes on in the movie, but it does give some great examples to follow.

It is because there are some excellent portrayals in The Spectacular Now of the kind of love God has for all of us that I give it a tentative recommendation.  I pray that teenagers make better choices than the ones you see here, even the ones that we would stereotypically label as responsible or smart.  As discussed here, society makes it hard for our young to go for the healthier option.  Still, even when we make all the wrong ones, God will continue to love us and offer us a way back to Him if only we accept it.