The legacy of Roger Ebert lives on as Director James Ponsoldt’s “The Spectacular Now” concluded Saturday night with a beautifully complex love story. The authenticity of its presentation and cast artfully distinguish it from the abundance of dramatic Hollywood movies — providing more than mere entertainment.

Based on the young adult novel by Tim Tharp, “The Spectacular Now” possesses a blend of idealism and realist undertones that bring the plot and characters to life. It starts out as a seemingly typical love story between two high school seniors: good girl Aimee Finicky (played by Shailene Woodley) falls for the wit and charm of bad boy Sutter Keely (played by Miles Teller). While Aimee is convinced he’s the best thing that has happened in her life, Sutter considers her as just another girl to add onto his list of temporary flings. But with time, their relationship moves beyond the excitement of unfamiliarity and youthful naivete. Eventually, their love develops in to a bond of empowerment. Though the two are polar opposites, their differences bring them together. As one’s strength compensates for the other’s weakness, they are given a means to face the reality of their hardships.

The root of their struggles stems from the same source: the absence of a father figure. Sutter’s dad left his family when he was young and Aimee’s father died of a sleeping pill overdose. However, they handle and respond to the situation differently.

Sutter has one mantra in life: live in the now. He hides behind false contentment in popularity, part-time employment at a men’s tie retail store and an unhealthy companionship with alcohol to avoid facing reality. Aimee, on the other hand, finds safety in her mom’s controlling ways. Aimee then presents a challenge for both her and Sutter — she would confront her mom about leaving for college if he would confront his mom about his dad’s whereabouts in return.

Aimee fulfills her part of the bargain, growing into a strong, confident character that hopes for a future that didn’t exist before she met Sutter.

After Sutter meets his dad, there’s a change in him that leaves him with an unsettling feeling. His goofy nature and child-like optimism take a turn for the worst as he becomes convinced he’s no different from his father: an alcoholic who cares for no one but himself.

With all different kinds of emotions stirring in his heart, Sutter almost gets Aimee and himself into a car accident. However, Aimee’s first reaction is not anger, rejection or concern for her own safety, but to make sure that Sutter is OK. This act of love brings Sutter to his breaking point. He fails to understand how a person could love him even when her own life was put at risk or how Aimee could genuinely believe he was good for her. With heightened emotion, he yells at her to get out of the car. As Aimee steps out, apologizing for the wrong she hasn’t done, she gets hit by a car.

It was a shocking and solemn moment. Those in the audience could feel the graveness of the situation, as if it were a tangible thing. For a brief moment, there was nothing but eerie silence in the theater as questions of Aimee’s fate were left unanswered with a black screen.

Moments later, the movie transitions to Aimee lying in a hospital bed. At this point, Sutter resorts to alcohol once again to numb the pain. He comes home drunk and belligerent. But what begins as a usual argument with his mom ends in a beautiful moment of resolution of many hurts — the misunderstanding of his mother’s love, the reality of his father’s selfishness and the truth about being different from his father.

However, if I were to make one critique, it would concern the realism of Aimee’s response to the course of events. It was hard to believe that even after a traumatic experience like this — being rejected by the one you’ve grown to love and to get hit by a car as a result — that Aimee was able to welcome Sutter with open arms. But perhaps this shows the unconditional love Sutter was so unfamiliar with, and the love that ultimately taught him how to love in return.

Sutter believes the best way to prove his love for Aimee is to let her go, so that she is saved from his self-destructive ways. But he soon realizes the true source of his fear: his disbelief in his self-worth and capability to be loved and to love someone else.

In finding that the true hardship in life was not his circumstances but himself, he boldly submits his college application with this epiphany. Though the deadline may have passed, he concludes that it is not too late for him to start living — not only in the now, but in the future, learning from the past and present.

Sutter approaches the staircase of a college campus, seeing Aimee for the first time since he watched her board the bus to Philadelphia alone. The prospect of their future is left ambiguous, as the film ends with Aimee’s smile that expresses an array of emotions: disbelief, joy, nervousness and curiosity. I’d like to believe the film ended on a hopeful note, as these words of the song “Bright Whites” by Kishi Bashi played while the credits rolled: “You and me at the edge of the world/with a pretty secret smile for me to see, for me to see.”

Following the applause and chatter from the audience, Shailene Woodley and James Ponsoldt entered the stage for a Q-and-A session. The ambiguity of the ending was brought up by an audience member, in which Ponsoldt provided this enlightening answer:

“I hope that he is on the path of making some changes to his life. But luckily he’s 18 and he’s got some time. We’ll see who he is in 10 years,” Ponsoldt said.

This answer reflects the element that enables the film to outshine its counterparts: the treatment of characters as true human beings with a lifeline that extends beyond the two hours viewers spend watching them on a big screen.

In agreement with Ponsoldt’s comment — and in honor of Roger Ebert’s recent passing — widow Chaz Ebert read the following excerpt from his review:

“What an affecting film this is. It respects its characters and doesn’t use them for its own shabby purposes. How deeply we care about them. … We have gone through senior year with these two. We have known them. We have been them.”

Stephanie is a junior in Media. She can be reached at [email protected].