The Above-Average Now

THE SPECTACULAR NOW (B) -  This plays like a really good "Afterschool Special" from the 1970s. And that's not a bad thing.

Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley are two of the most appealing and talented young actors out there. And they ably pull off this charming look at young love. Sutter masks his self-loathing and insecurities (and excessive drinking) with a superficial charm that seduces friends, teachers and girls -- to a certain extent. Aimee finds Sutter passed out on her lawn one morning, and they fall in together, even though Sutter's pals think he's slumming after a breakup with the much hotter (and blonder) Cassidy (Brie Larson who was much more effective in "Short Term 12").

Teller here comes off as a young John Cusack playing a depressed Ferris Bueller. Woodley overdoes the grounded-good-girl role a bit. Sutter, turns out, has daddy issues, and the worst part of the film comes when he tracks down the deadbeat who is living in a motel and takes the 17-year-olds out for drinks, makes them pay for the round and then abandons them. The scene never rises above cliche, and the film struggles to recover during the final third, and it's to Teller and Woodley's credit that they make you care how this turns out. The script is by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who last coughed up the underwhelming quirky romance "(500) Days of Summer."

A fine adult cast of supporting characters chips in: Jennifer Jason Leigh as Sutter's mom; Bob Odenkirk as his boss; Kyle Chandler as his dad; and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (the star of "Smashed") is his sister. Director James Ponsoldt explored similar territory -- a young adult with a drinking problem, destroying his relationships -- much more deftly in "Smashed" in 2012. 

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (B-minus) - A fun but contrived screwball comedy about two hurting souls struggling with mental illness. I had trouble taking it seriously, because it was too broad and cartoonish, and I rolled my eyes at the hoary contrivance of a dance contest designed to make everything right.

Interestingly, I loved the silly plot line of Robert De Niro (playing Bradley Cooper's father) following the Philadelphia Eagles with a pathological superstition. Without De Niro and Jennifer Lawrence, this would have been unwatchable. As it is, Lawrence is saddled with the ham-handed characterization of a young widow who acts out like a nymphomaniac.

This is generally entertaining, but it's well short of essential viewing. 

BONUS TRACKS
From the closing credits of "Now" is the best song of the year, "Song for Zula" by Phosphorescent:

And from "Silver Linings," a Stevie Wonder classic: