The Spectacular Now Themes

Just about every character in The Spectacular Now has been abandoned in some way by someone. Deserted by a father, betrayed by a sister, stood up by a boyfriend—take your pick. Duh: Sutter's our...

Families stink. At least, that's how it seems in The Spectacular Now. Everyone's got a slob of a stepdad, an unloving mom, or a horrible sibling. And when Sutter tries to fix part of his family's p...

Look, we see why you might think that The Spectacular Now glamorizes drugs and alcohol. Sutter's cool, right? He gets invited to all the great parties, he has a popular girlfriend, everyone wants t...

Everybody knows the Sutterman. He's got a reputation as a party animal and he loves it. Funny thing, though: the wilder he gets, the more negative the attention is. Turns out, getting blackout drun...

Poor Sutter just can't seem to believe that anyone would ever really love him. We're not surprised. His dad abandoned him, his mom and sister are cold towards him, and his girlfriends always break...

Sutter is terrified of growing up. Not even of getting old, which, dude, we feel you—he's freaked out by the thought of entering the adult world. So, he does everything he can to prevent it. He p...

No Dream the Impossible Dream for this guy. Dreaming, hoping, and planning is basically the opposite of living in the spectacular now, and Sutter wants to part of it. Sure, he kinda-sorta agrees to...