Every so often, while in a movie theatre, there'll be a trailer for an upcoming movie that instantaneously takes me by surprise and steals all of my attention for weeks to come. While anticipating its release, any spare time I have will be spent downloading the soundtrack, becoming obsessed with whatever song was in the trailer, reading the book (if it was based on one), and watching any featurettes I can find on YouTube. I completely understand why trailers also go by the term "teasers", as they present you with a bang of captivating footage that gets you extremely hyped up for what you assume will be an amazing movie. However, one is never fully satisfied until being presented with the feature as a whole. In my mind, trailers are like meeting someone for the first time and feeling that instant spark of chemistry, while the movie is like actually getting to know the person. Sometimes, the story is everything you hoped for, and other times you leave disappointed and decieved that the movie wasn't what the trailer made it out to be.
Sunday evening I went to go see Don Jon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's new movie. Having seen the trailer a few months back, I can say that the clips I had seen prior to the movie were true to the film's character: entertaining, artsy, quirky, and without giving too much away, a disconnect from your typical Hollywood romantic plot. The film proved to be worthy of the hype that surrounded JGL's directorial debut. Having said that, it was a trailer that was shown prior to that evening's screening that made me leave the theatre with butterflies in my stomach.
Maybe it's because I tend to find the plot and characters extremely relatable, or because in every story there is a unique way of overcoming the obstacles that go along with youth, but for whatever reason coming of age movies have always struck a chord with me. The Spectacular Now features Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller as two high school seniors, both of whom are struggling with family issues and self-discovery as they near graduation. After having just been dumped by his girlfriend, a hungover Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) is found laying on a stranger's lawn by a fellow senior named Aimee Finicky (Shailene Woodley). Before going any further, it is important to know that I am extremely biased towards Shailene Woodley as an actress due to the fact that she brought rivers of tears to my eyes during one of her speeches in The Descendants, a very rare occurrence for me (and this is coming from a movie buff). Ever since her Oscar nominated performance she earned my respect as a talented, charismatic actress. In The Spectacular Now, the sweet innocence Woodley brings to Aimee's character complements Sutter's wild, party boy persona. Together they help each other through various struggles, while also facing the challenge of a young relationship. Though it's a tale about teenagers and growing up, I think the messages that accompany the film are universal.
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