Adventureland

Adventureland is one of the best teenage films I have ever seen. I almost am upset by the advertising plan and budget the film had because if it was given enough commercial advertisement it would've been as successful as Superbad. Sadly this film went under the radar and wasn't given the acclaim it deserved. As a teen exploitation film, this movie accurately describes, interprets, and expresses the mind of a teenager and incredibly gives any teenage viewer a sense of closure. Because unlike Superbad, the characters in Adventureland are easy to relate to and are more vulnerable in an emotional sense. Anyone who sees this film to relax and enjoy a bit of comedy with a heartfelt story, or to reminisce about their teenage years, their first jobs or their personal time at Adventureland, or even to watch a teenage love story will get what they were looking for.

While watching this movie, it wasn't clear if this was supposed to be a comedy or a drama, so it's difficult to put this into a category. It was funny and sad, so I'd classify it as a comedy/drama.

The movie takes place in the 1980's and the main character is forced to take a job a Pittsburgh area amusement park called "Adventureland" so he can save enough money to attend graduate school. While his parents feel the job is beneath his college degree qualifications, it's the only job he can find so he takes it, and ends up working the game show booths. While working there, he meets Kristen Stewart, and they develop a romantic relationship, which takes up a large chunk of the movie. Kristen, incidentally, seems to be playing the same exact character she played in "Twilight", wounded and needy.

Based on the trailers, I was expecting something along the lines of "Superbad" but the movie was a lot closer to "Dazed & Confused", a well written period piece of the 1970's. The comedy aspect of the movie was in the interactions with his friends, parents, co-workers, and supervisors. There weren't a lot of LOL moments, but the humor is more in identifying with the characters and their lives.

I enjoyed the movie and anyone living or growing up during the 1980's will appreciate the mood & music of the film.

'Adventureland' is a melancholy voyage into the grey zone between adolescence and adulthood, school and career, lust and relationships, frivolity and responsibility. That is to say it is not 'Superbad' and that's supergood.

Upon graduating, comparative literature major James Brennan is informed that due to his father's recent demotion (alcoholism is an implied cause), the parents will not be funding his planned and hopefully transformative European vacation. James returns to his parents' Pittsburgh home with virginity and intellectual pretensions intact.

Still planning on attending Columbia Journalism School and needing funds, James seeks summer employment and settles for a job as a game both operator at Adventureland, a local amusement park that has seen better days. He is after all a comp lit major and not even qualified for manual labor.

Of course Adventureland is more than meets the eye. We're introduced to the interior lives of park employees. Extremely powerful performances are provided by Jesse Eisenberg, Martin Starr, Margarita Levieva, Ryan McFarland, and especially Kristen Stewart as James's sort of girlfriend Em.

These are not stock characters (with the exception of the ballbusting Frigo character, put here for childish laughs). The characters are emotionally and behaviorally complex. They wrestle with what it means to be young (or not so young) what it is to be in a relationship, the meaning of sex, employment, violence, drug use, fidelity, intellectualism, relationships with parents and their new spouses, the value of education. In short, what it means to be a person.

To enhance its verisimilitude, the film is mostly set to mid eighties tunes (Expose, The Mary Jane Girls, etc.). These songs are of the mid-eighties, but the film is set in 1987. It's a slight jab at the less than cutting edge nature of Pittsburghian society circa 1987. No matter, the film does not ridicule the zeitgeist. Rather, it takes seriously the emotional resonance of the sex, the music, the clothes, the hair, the ganja, the drinking, and the want to all involved (it was serious) and in so doing achieves poignancy.

The film touched me and not just because I was almost James's age living not too far from Pittsburgh in 1987, but because it addresses what it means to be on the shaky cusp of adulthood in such an honest way. A must see.

I can honestly say that I haven't seen as good a movie as this in a long time. Most of the characters you can relate to in some kind of way or you may possibly know someone who is similar to them.

This movie was definitely advertised wrong; it seemed as though it was going to be a crude but funny comedy like superbad only there was a hell of a lot more seriousness and romance involved.

Kristen Stewart who plays Em Lewin does a fantastic job of showing multiple emotions in a single expression. Anyone who claims she can't act must not have seen this.

Jesse Eisenburg playing James also does very well in being one of those smart, funny, intellectual types who at the same time doesn't talk down to people in a condescending way.

And may I say bravo to Bill Hader and Kristen Wigg who had just the right comedic timing. Martin Starr also did surprisingly well as someone who knew where his place was in the world.

Adventureland has the right balance of drama and comedy so you're never left feeling bored. This movie will continue to be one of my favorites probably for years to come.

Adventureland was a lot better film than I anticipated. The summary sounds incredibly boring, which it is. There is really no excitement or anything overly engaging about the film. However, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, and the rest of the cast make for an interesting story. Their characters are really well developed and how all of them mesh together during a summer of non-fun in the 1980's is intriguing. Eisenberg and Stewart play the same exact roles they do in every single film I've ever seen them in. Eisenberg is a neurotic but witty guy with self-esteem issues and Stewart is a beautiful but troubled young woman with emotional issues. They definitely don't go outside the box for their roles but they have mastered their niche archetypes. All-in-all, this isn't the most entertaining movie around but it has a certain charm to it. The characters feel real, the music takes you back in time to a more pure era, and the story is relatable to just about everyone.