Adventureland is Greg Mottola’s follow up to Superbad from a few summers ago. While Superbad at its core was a cute buddy film the opening discussion of what porn site to subscribe to when Seth and Even turned the all-important 18 set the tone for the film. While their relationship was sweet the raunchy humor stole the show. Adventureland is a much more personal coming of age story than Superbad. It’s about a group of friends most of which are in college or just graduated college spending their summer working Games or Rides at a Pittsburgh amusement park.
James (Jesse Eisenberg, The squid and the whale) a recent college graduate just found out his graduation present, a European summer vacation, is no longer in the cards and his plans for grad school at Columbia could also be in jeopardy. With nowhere else to turn he gets a job working carnival games at the local amusement park Adventureland, with his ball-checking old best friend Frigo (Matt Bush…the Cingular rollover minutes kid).
When Em (Kristen Stewert, Twillight) saves James from getting shanked by a cheating park goer a relationship begins to blossom. Em is the cute girl with secrets. Her mom has passed, her father is never home and she spends her time off trying to fill the voids they left behind, to which of course the sweet and innocent Renaissance Studies buff, James, is completely oblivious to.
Joel (Martin Starr), a pipe smoking Russian Literature major shows James the ins and outs of the day-to-day park rigmarole and they become pals. The older and much cooler Connell (Ryan Reynolds) takes a liking to James and the summer seems to be going as good as it could, all things considered.
The twists and turns of Adventureland are about as predictable as an old wooden rollercoaster but ultimately they are just as enjoyable. I was still a small child in 1987, the year the movie is set, but Mottola did a good job bringing me back. There were no unnecessary or blatant references to the 80’s, as so many movies like to do. A great soundtrack helps to bring you back to a time without cell phone and the Internet, a time when it was okay to hang out after work and talk, or cruise around in your car till the sun came up.
The marketing campaign for Adventureland really focuses on the comedy aspects of this movie but if you are expecting a bellyache from laughing so hard after this flick you’ll be disappointed. I could have done without Bill Hader, which I find myself saying a lot these days. Kristen Wiig is always good for a few laughs. No one, not even Ryan Reynolds can steal the spotlight from Jesse Eisenberg on this one, however. Cute, funny and heartfelt, this movie was a pleasant surprise.
My vote; See this movie…and then go buy the DVD.
Sold.
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