Why I Saw It: Of all the Sundance movies that generated buzz this year, this was the one I'd uniformly heard the best things about.
Cast: Miles Teller is charming as hell in this and sells both the good and bad about his character surprisingly well. For all that I'm heard about her in this, Shailene Woodley is not in this as much as I expected. She's certainly a supporting character. That said, I'm sold on her. She's great. The Descendants wasn't a fluke. Brie Larson is the frustrating ex for Teller which isn't a demanding role. I seem why I've heard so much about Kyle Chandler's role for how un-Coach-like he is. He is the anti-Coach and it's heartbreaking. Bob Odenkirk, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Andre Royo all have small parts complete with at least one scene each that bummed me out.
Plot: It's a coming of age story - Here me out! Teller is an alcoholic teen who is the life of every party but he is a trainwreck. It's basically his, a lot of it. I have trouble with protagonists like that, but he is young, so I forgive it a little more. Anyways, his girlfriend breaks up with him and he starts dating Woodley's character who is supposed to be a nerdy girl (who is totally hotter than almost any nerdy girl I've ever met, but whatever). He brings her down his spiral of self-sabotage. A lot of the beats are familiar. A few go in some unexpected directions and shit never his the fan as much as I feared and I appreciated that. The story realizing that it doesn't have to go big to be effective.
Elephant in the Room: You say that he is an alcoholic? Is he ever! The movie makes his alcoholism clear almost to the point overdoing it. The dude is always drinking. He makes me feel bad for owning a flask. Ok, it makes me feel bad when I think things like "that's wasn't that much whiskey that he drank". I don't fully understand where all the money was coming from for this habit. How can anyone without a full time job afford to be a functioning alcoholic? Sorry, this is starting to not be about the movie at all. Ignore me.
To Sum Things Up:
I liked this movie. It was definitely hurt by raised expectations, because I was expecting something a lot better. The performances top-to-bottom are great. I will certainly give anything that I see Teller or Woodley in immediate consideration in the future. I'm loving how they committed to the R rating. I can't deny that I badly wanted a neater ending even though I think the ending it has works, probably better. I was hoping to come back from this with a mandate that everyone see it, but it's certainly a niche movie. I am happy I saw it, not through the roof about it.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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