The Spectacular Now

Screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber set out to make a teen movie like the John Hughes dramedies they grew up watching, and they've aptly succeeded. The Spectacular Now is so much more (nuanced, well acted, thought-provoking) than the average sex- and party-obsessed teen fare. Like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Spectacular Now doesn't shy away from showing that teens can and do have sex and drink (Sutter is a basically a highly functioning alcoholic), but it also shows how deeply teens feel and think and hope to make a difference, whether it's in the immediate moment, like Sutter, or in the future, like Cassidy or Marcus (Dayo Okeniyi).

Adapted from a contemporary YA novel, there are no vampires or werewolves or totalitarian governments in sight in THE SPECTACULAR NOW; this is realistic fiction at its best and most poignant. The Spectacular Now is very much set in the now, but it's also timeless. Teller, looking a bit like a young John Cusack, is a perfect high school everyman. He's brilliant, and Woodley is every bit as vulnerable and outstanding as she was in The Descendants. If only more movies about teenagers were this honest and funny and moving (and prone to spark meaningful discussion between teens and their parents). The late Hughes would be proud.