ONTD

2:24 pm - 01/20/2013

The New Critics Darling: Shailene Woodley in "The Spectacular Now"

Shailene Woodley is currently showcasing her movie The Spectacular Now at the Sundance Film Festival and her acting is getting some great reviews from critics.

Some critics were skeptical of Shailene's acting ability due to her break out performance in Secrets of an American Teenager show on ABC. Then she wowed audiences in The Descendants with George Clooney.

From HitFix:
For Woodley, this is also a confirmatory performance more than an eye-opener. The gap between the poised, unaffected actress in "The Descendants" and the wooden star of "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" was so vast that any amount of skepticism was well-earned. After watching Woodley in "The Spectacular Now," the weight of blame shifts fairly conclusively to the ABC Family drama. Capable of shifting between wallflower and camera-friendly starlet with organic ease, there's a vulnerability and openness to Woodley that's well-matched with Teller's defensive wise-cracking.

From The Hollywood Reporter:
Looking plain, even homely and singularly unadorned, Woodley is world away from the svelte little hottie she portrayed two years ago in The Descendents but again is entirely terrific.

From Collider:
Woodley wowed audiences in 2011′s The Descendants, and her work in The Spectacular Now is even better. No offense to her co-star, but it’s a bit more difficult to convince us that a girl as pretty as Aimee would be unpopular, but Ponsoldt doesn’t try to pull a She’s All That by saying that she’d be beautiful if only her hair wasn’t pulled back in a ponytail. He’s not trying to give Aimee a physical makeover because Woodley shows us that the character is beautiful on the inside. When she talks about her dream marriage at the dinner party of Sutter’s sister Holly (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), we can’t help but fall in love with Aimee.

From SlashFilm:
Shailene Woodley (riding high from The Descendants) is charming and brings depth and truth to what could be a stereotypical female wallflower geek character we see in many other teen films.

From TheWrap:
In "The Spectacular Now," Woodley is relentlessly understated, never showy and utterly real. An auto accident involving her character is one of the film's only missteps – its aftermath isn't explored fully enough to justify the jolt – but she creates a character whose sunniness and concern for those around her clearly comes from a place of hurt

From MSN:
"The Spectacular Now" is, if anything, even better, featuring two performances from Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley that, in a just world where The Oscars and suchlike were actually about quality acting and not clever marketing, would earn them every possible consideration.
source.

The film is getting raved reviews and universally loved, buzz is that Fox Searchlight and The Weinstein Company made offers.
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emerald_soul 20th-Jan-2013 10:30 pm (UTC)
She's a crappy actress. I don't get it.
xxxtttiiinnnaaa 20th-Jan-2013 10:34 pm (UTC)
Only everyone that saw her new movie said the opposite.
emerald_soul 20th-Jan-2013 11:04 pm (UTC)
I'll judge if I see it, but critics also loved her in The Descendants and the movie as a whole when it was extremely unimpressive so...
teaaet 20th-Jan-2013 10:34 pm (UTC)
did you see the descendants?
cheeseasauras 20th-Jan-2013 10:31 pm (UTC)
Crappy writing pretty much hinders anyone.
gagita 20th-Jan-2013 10:31 pm (UTC)
"critics darling" hardly lmao. she was slated awfully in that tween show she was in.

next
xxxtttiiinnnaaa 20th-Jan-2013 10:35 pm (UTC)
She was and now she's getting praise, not sure how that's hard to understand.
gagita 20th-Jan-2013 10:40 pm (UTC)
praise...or bandwagon?
fred2265 20th-Jan-2013 11:30 pm (UTC)
mte..
bodyline 20th-Jan-2013 10:32 pm (UTC)
I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that she's going to be Mary Jane. Such flop casting.
mistycreed 20th-Jan-2013 10:34 pm (UTC)
Which is why I won't watch the movie after Emma leaves.

Shailene looks like a fetus next to Andrew, and even after watching her movie with Clooney, I don't think she's a good actress.
bodyline 20th-Jan-2013 10:36 pm (UTC)
Why can these films never cast MJ right? IDGI
hera_bearrra 20th-Jan-2013 11:23 pm (UTC)
IA
angelrose493 20th-Jan-2013 11:45 pm (UTC)
i'm so annoyed about this. IN WHAT WAY IS SHE MJ?? i don't understand
supertex 20th-Jan-2013 10:32 pm (UTC)
i've only seen her in the descendants, but i hope she gets more work in film.

its sounds like this movie may do just that.
xxxtttiiinnnaaa 20th-Jan-2013 10:37 pm (UTC)
She has The Spectacular Now and the lead in White Bird in a Blizzard, which as an amazing cast and was directed/written by Gregg Araki + her two mainstream films Diverget & Spiderman.
loverelapse 20th-Jan-2013 11:45 pm (UTC)
directed/written by Gregg Araki

whhhhhhhhhat? now i have to watch.
redaodai 20th-Jan-2013 10:33 pm (UTC)
At first I thought this was a post about Miles.
mirandagirll 20th-Jan-2013 10:46 pm (UTC)
Came here to say this tbh
bad_situation 20th-Jan-2013 10:50 pm (UTC)
I watched the Footloose remake the other day and he was super qt in it.
bodylikemind 20th-Jan-2013 10:54 pm (UTC)
i wish it was about both of them, they're both getting ridiculous praise and i love it
hypnology 20th-Jan-2013 10:33 pm (UTC)
I will see this for Brie Larson.
Also I like Shailene since the descendants.
moddchicc 20th-Jan-2013 10:33 pm (UTC)
IAWTC
spacebound09 20th-Jan-2013 10:33 pm (UTC)
girl and her agents really know how to choose and get right projects while being on the shitty teen show.
example for all CW actresses out of here tbh

Edited at 2013-01-20 10:37 pm (UTC)
kurtvonnegut 20th-Jan-2013 10:33 pm (UTC)
i want to like her but she is sooo one of those overprivileged crunchy "free spirits" who think their attempts to grow rhubarb in their back yard is saving the world
xxxtttiiinnnaaa 20th-Jan-2013 10:38 pm (UTC)
She's a bit ridiculous at times but I find it cute lol
kurtvonnegut 20th-Jan-2013 10:38 pm (UTC)
lol i guess it annoys me because i live in a ~crunchy~ town and am surrounded by the self-righteousness all day
bananasnrum 20th-Jan-2013 10:39 pm (UTC)
this is called being a teenager
holyfrijoles_2 20th-Jan-2013 10:40 pm (UTC)
I remember in one awards show she said something about "being awed by the profoundness of the Hawaiian ecosystem" and I was about 200% done with her after that. I'm sure she's a nice girl but no.
gagita 20th-Jan-2013 10:48 pm (UTC)
lmao this truth
twoyearsaway 21st-Jan-2013 02:49 am (UTC)
i followed her on twitter and that was such a mistake
vampireweekend 20th-Jan-2013 10:33 pm (UTC)
only seeing this for brie & mary elizabeth winstead
redaodai 20th-Jan-2013 10:37 pm (UTC)
It always surprises me that Mary Elizabeth Winstead didn't become a little more popular, or do more notable projects.
moddchicc 20th-Jan-2013 10:40 pm (UTC)
I'm so bummed she didn't get more nominations for Smashed
fasdsr2 20th-Jan-2013 10:46 pm (UTC)
IA that she should be more popular, but these things take time. She was just in Smashed (which she was terrific in), and that's helped put her on critics' radars, at least.
vampireweekend 20th-Jan-2013 10:50 pm (UTC)
i think she just wants to be an under the radar type actress tbh

i wish she got more recognition, though.
frenchverbs 20th-Jan-2013 11:03 pm (UTC)
I kind of get the impression that she's okay with that. I do think she deserves a lot more recognition...she's such a good actress. It's funny that her career started with one of the shittiest soap operas ever, Passions.
hrhobo 21st-Jan-2013 12:22 am (UTC)
me too. i liked her a lot at mary todd in ALVH lmao. weird, but i really did.
blowingleaves 20th-Jan-2013 10:34 pm (UTC)
Its amazing what starring in a film with Clooney can do for your career...
shortliljackers 20th-Jan-2013 10:36 pm (UTC)
idk, i thought she was good in the descendants.

maybe i'll see it.
fabouluz 20th-Jan-2013 10:37 pm (UTC)
She's not as good as JLaw.
xxxtttiiinnnaaa 20th-Jan-2013 10:39 pm (UTC)
Lol
reach_the_end 20th-Jan-2013 10:46 pm (UTC)
Really? Judging off The Descendens, I think she's miles better and, on a superficial note, much easier on the eyes.
gagita 20th-Jan-2013 10:53 pm (UTC)
no not someone objectifying in ONTD. we banish u boo.
ballooon 20th-Jan-2013 10:55 pm (UTC)
dead iawtc
shiningautumn 21st-Jan-2013 02:01 am (UTC)
lol where is the lie?
seriousfic 20th-Jan-2013 11:33 pm (UTC)
No one is as good as JLaw.
hypermuseic9 21st-Jan-2013 03:43 am (UTC)
mte
whiskybars 20th-Jan-2013 10:37 pm (UTC)
lol ok

she was awful in the descendants
galagooo 20th-Jan-2013 10:41 pm (UTC)
Who cares. It was another George Clooney movie with George Clooney playing the role of George Clooney.
lovelyeli 20th-Jan-2013 10:46 pm (UTC)
lol this..idk how that bitch came to be some gigantic movie star in the first place.
whiskybars 20th-Jan-2013 10:56 pm (UTC)
lol ia tho everything about that movie was beige as hell
pennylane101 21st-Jan-2013 02:44 pm (UTC)
clint eastwood does it too
ellaellaeheheh 20th-Jan-2013 10:43 pm (UTC)
this. I hated that movie.
emerald_soul 20th-Jan-2013 11:01 pm (UTC)
THANK YOU.

The whole movie sucked though. And I usually really like Alexander Payne's work.
jessepinkman 20th-Jan-2013 10:38 pm (UTC)
brie looks like jenna fischer in that pic..

and i hate the phrase " _____ darling"
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