A24/Courtesy

The film opens with high school senior Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) sitting at his computer, typing a response to a college essay prompt that asks him to describe a hardship. He takes a sip of a beer. He begins to ramble on about the downward spiral resulting from his recent breakup with his girlfriend, Cassidy (Brie Larson). He describes the once-idyllic vision of his social status (e.g., “I was the life of every party”) in perfect unison with hers and laments the newly perceived deterioration of his life as he knows it. The film closes with Sutter sitting again at his computer, typing a fresh response to the same prompt.

“The Spectacular Now,” directed by James Ponsoldt (“Smashed”), is a coming-of-age story that follows Sutter on his journey to self-discovery during his last few months in high school. Sutter is the quintessential popular high school teenager, exuding confidence and a certain affable charm, social ease and fast-talking sensibility. Adapting Tim Tharp’s novel of the same name, writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (“(500) Days of Summer”) characterize Sutter with a sense of humor and air that feel slightly dated or contrived, at least enough to make Sutter’s “charm” and breeziness irritating to watch at times. The film, however, harps on the shallowness of his exterior by revealing deeper emotional insecurities.

Sutter emphasizes living in the moment and embracing the present (the “now” part of the title). It is a naive and romantic kind of credo that inhibits him from — or rather, allows him to avoid — moving forward or confronting larger issues. He is prompted to reevaluate his life and complacency when he conveniently meets Aimee Finicky (Shailene Woodley). Aimee is sharp, goal-oriented and unaware of her physical beauty. Her biggest downfall is her sincere love for the surprisingly tragic Sutter, who has an “I’m tortured; I don’t deserve you” complex beneath his outward confidence.

It might sound like a cheesy portrait, but the film is more than its basic plot. Although it uses a familiar structure (yes, there’s a prom scene and a graduation scene) with more or less formulaic character models, “The Spectacular Now” takes a refreshing approach to the tried-and-tried-again coming-of-age story without any sugarcoating. As the unlikely relationship between the Aimee and Sutter develops, Sutter’s depth and emotional baggage unravel as he grapples with his relationship with his absent father (Kyle Chandler), a dangerous penchant for alcohol, future plans and an underlying struggle with feelings of deservingness. Against its comedic aspect, such topics make the film exceptionally tender.

Amid the raunchy teen movies that have dominated the past decade, it’s true that this feels much more akin to ’80s films like John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club” or Cameron Crowe’s “Say Anything” than its contemporaries. It encapsulates sincerity that is rare in coming-of-age films of late. It captures the emotional vulnerability of adolescence and a genuine sweetness in young romance, demonstrated in the palpable chemistry and natural interaction between the characters. The film also provides an accurate image of complicated family dynamics in white middle-class America and their subsequent effect on teens, treating topics like alcoholism, sex and self-love with sensitivity and earnestness.

It is clear that the writers do not mock or condescend the teenaged subjects nor dramatize their angst. Instead, they seem to really understand these characters, recognizing the sincerity and validity behind their emotions and desires. The poignancy that results in such a compassionate depiction negates the film’s potential to be a sappy or melodramatic despite its genre.

Contact Denise Lee at deniselee@dailycal.org.

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Fox Searchlight Pictures/Courtesy

Alexander Payne, where’ve you been? How the hell are ya? Come here, and gimme a hug.

Seven years after the release of his film “Sideways,” one of the most acerbic and piercing entries in our century’s dime-a-dozen crop of indie dramedies, the sorely missed writer/director has returned, and now he’s a bit of a softie. But that doesn’t mean that his current film “The Descendants,” co-written by Payne alongside Jim Rash and Nat Faxon based on Kaui Hart Hemmings’s novel, lacks the wincing laughs and quietly heart-splitting drama. The new Payne is gentle, with eyes on the heart rather than the head, but his work is still Payneful nonetheless.

Here, Payne moves from the disenchanted worlds of Middle America in “About Schmidt” and “Sideways” to the hot, tropical, but no less disenchanted, archipelago of Hawaii. But this Hawaii is not what we know from postcards. “I haven’t been on a surfboard in 15 years,” says Matt King (George Clooney) in a voiceover. Sure, the water is cool and the sand dazzly-white, but the realm of “The Descendants” is as desperate and despondent as anything out of, say, Charlie Kaufman, with whom Payne certainly shares an attentive ear for dialogue.

When the film starts, Matt is reeling from his wife’s boating accident off Waikiki, not just because his dearly beloved is trapped in a coma, but because he is left to deal with his two willful daughters Scottie (Amara Miller) and Alexandra (Shailene Woodley). “I’m the back-up parent, the understudy,” he says. Clearly he his ill equipped to handle the burden of childrearing (particularly for Scottie, an adolescent) as his dotage approaches.

As if a comatose spouse weren’t stressful enough, Matt has been bequeathed the unwieldy duty of selling or keeping a huge expanse of island land his family inherited. As the principal land baron, Matt has a motley crew of cousins on his ass — one of whom is played by Michael Ontkean, better known as Sheriff Truman in “Twin Peaks” — begging him to sell the land so they can all make bank. But Matt is consternated, conflicted and spends a lot of time furrowing his brow over this decision. You can guess how it turns out.

The plot takes some wry and amusing turns, including one involving ’90s-bro-growed-up Matthew Lillard as a simpering real estate agent, and the lovely, effervescent Judy Greer as his dutiful wife. This twist, I, unlike the film’s overeager trailer, won’t spoil. But most of “The Descendants” is about Matt devoting himself to his own descendants and improving relations with his children.

As Matt, Clooney is shaggy, world-worn and sacks his dapper Hollywood smarm for a role that is perhaps his most Oscar-baiting yet because he is willing to get ugly, and into a Tommy Bahama getup. Matt joins the ranks of Miles of “Sideways” (Paul Giamatti) and Warren in “About Schmidt” (Jack Nicholson) as one in a triad of sad sacks that you can easily warm up to, and also feel embarrassed for, often at once.

“The Descendants” marks five-for-five for Alexander Payne, who in addition to the other dark comedies I mentioned, has directed “Citizen Ruth” (1996) and “Election” (1999), both about strongly written protagonists overcoming adversities of their own making.

Given the inherently heavy-handed and overused theme of the dysfunctional nuclear family reunited in the wake of tragedy, “The Descendants” is too heartwarming and feel-good when set against such a dark body of work, as most of Payne’s films find their protagonists lost and dejected in the end, with only a squeeze of hope. But everyone involved, particularly Clooney and the two young actresses who play his daughters, is fully committed to the material. And if you aren’t convinced by everything I have said, then at the very least, “The Descendants” portrays a true Hawaii, and one I’d like to visit.

Ryan Lattanzio is the lead film critic.

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