Okay, fine, Miles Teller, you don’t suck

Warning: there be spoilers ahead.

Confession: Before this movie, I had a beef against Miles Teller. Was it completely rational? Ha, ha, not at all. Ultimately, the reason why I didn’t like him was basically, “I just don’t like his face.” & not in a “Oh, I find his face fucking unattractive and ugly” way. More just like I didn’t like his face. Period. It wasn’t like my beef against Lena Dunham, another twenty-something that Hollywood is so desperately trying to make happen (a beef which I think is rational. At first, I really tried to like Lena Dunham. I think people are way too hard on her for the wrong reasons – i.e., because she is not traditionally attractive and what some assholes might call “ugly” or “fat.” I really wanted to like her because I admire her for defying unrealistic beauty standards and for not being ashamed to show off her real naked body. Also, she calls herself a feminist and I thought it was in a way anti-feminist for me to not like her. But in the end, I do not like her. To me, she seems hypocritical and often gives feminism a bad name, and her show Girls just sucks. I could go on and on about the reasons why I don’t like her, but I’ll probably save that for a later blog post if anyone should care about my opinion. & even if no one cares about my opinion).

Anyway, I digress (shocker, right? :P).

TLDR: I thought Miles had a douchey persona and I got a little bit pissed when he was cast as Mr. Fantastic because I was skeptical about his level of talent (though to be honest, I’ve never seen a movie with him besides The Spectacular Now).

So he might or might not be a douche (though I have to say, that Esquire interview certainly didn’t do anything to get rid of the douchey persona), but I will admit that he has talent. He was really believable and even likable as Sutter, a teenager with a serious drinking problem. And Shailene Woodley was great too (who would have guessed that the main character from that horrid show The Secret Life of the American Teenager would turn out to be a talented and hugely famous actress?). Though they were both in their twenties when the movie was filmed, they came across as a real, flawed, but kind-hearted teenagers.

Have to say though that this movie was more drama than comedy. There were some humorous bits, but they were moments that would maybe produce a smile but not hysterical laughter. & some parts were just depressing. More bitter than sweet.

Also, I wish Aimee (Woodley) was less of a pushover and less devoted to Sutter. While I see why she fell in love with Sutter, she should’ve been way more angry after he told her to get out of the car (which resulted in  ANOTHER FUCKING CAR HITTING HER). While yeah, forgiveness is good and great and all, I didn’t like how she just forgave him LIKE THAT and was willing to pretend that nothing ever happened. While he didn’t directly hurt her, his carelessness and thoughtlessness did cause great pain for her (emotional & physical).

& though I typically don’t like ambiguous endings (I WANT WEDDINGS AND JOY AND BABIES AND RAINBOWS, YO), I think the vague conclusion worked for this film and sort of reminded me of the conclusion of The Graduate. Yeah, Sutter comes back to Aimee…but now what? To me, the smile she gives him in the end is hesitant, unsure. She and the audience are not sure if she will get back together with Sutter or not. Because yo, he did hurt her and bailed on her in a huge way. My ideal ending: she gets back together with him…but only after he makes it up to her in a fucking grand and majestic way.

So Miles Teller, you don’t suck.