Actor Miles Teller finally shows some depth

“Whiplash” is the first Miles Teller movie I’ve seen that didn’t make me want to do the young actor bodily harm.

From the “Footloose” remake to “The Spectacular Now” to “Divergent,” every time Teller popped up onscreen, something about him bothered me on a cellular level.

The best word to describe my reaction to his casting in next summer’s “Fantastic Four” reboot: crestfallen.

But with “Whiplash,” he’s finally onto something.

Opening Friday, the critical darling stars Teller as Andrew Neiman, a young jazz drummer at a prestigious New York music academy, who’s driven to the brink of madness by his demanding conductor, Terrence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons).

Think “Black Swan” without the lesbianism.

Andrew is a first-year student, relegated to alternate drummer status in one of the school’s lesser ensembles, until he’s tapped by Fletcher to make the leap to the academy’s showcase studio band.

It’s a cutthroat group where musical careers are cemented or quickly extinguished. On Andrew’s first day with the big boys, Fletcher reduces a trombone player to a weepy, snotty pile of goo. Those memories will soon seem like a Hallmark moment.

This is one of my favorite times of the year, as hits on the festival circuit begin trickling into town. (For more, see my holiday movie preview in Friday’s Neon.) And, much like last week’s “Birdman,” “Whiplash” doesn’t disappoint.

Teller is a great conduit for the sort of drive it takes to thrive in such circumstances. The confidence he gains from Fletcher’s early approval gives him the confidence to finally date the cute concession stand worker (Melissa Benoist of “Glee”) at the revival movie house he regularly attends with his father (Paul Reiser).

But he has to keep chasing that approval like a drug, which leads to his practicing until his hands look like ground chuck.

Simmons, meanwhile, is fantastic. Clad in tight black T-shirts straight from the Simon Cowell Signature Collection, his Fletcher spews F-bombs and spittle the way others exhale. A punishing taskmaster, he builds up Andrew just to tear him down. At one point, Fletcher hurls a chair at his head like jazz’s answer to Bobby Knight.

Based on writer-director Damien Chazelle’s experiences as a jazz drummer, “Whiplash” is unafraid of dark places as it ultimately becomes an intense battle of wills between the two.

It showcases a different side of Teller.

And, if there’s any justice, it will lead to even better things for Simmons, a terrific actor who’s sadly still best known to some for those Farmers Insurance commercials.

■ Special screening: Speaking of festival favorites, “Rosewater,” Jon Stewart’s directorial debut, opens Friday. But you can see it early, along with a conversation with Stewart, Stephen Colbert and the movie’s subject, journalist Maziar Bahari, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Colonnade, The Orleans, Sam’s Town, South Point and Village Square.

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.