Adventureland

Review By: Tom Herrmann
TomHerrmann@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: A-

If Wikipedia is to be trusted, writer/director Greg Mottola actually based the movie on the Adventureland on Long Island after having worked there when he was younger. I remember going to the Adventureland as a kid, and anyone else who has ever been there can tell you that the real one is worse then the one in the film. It was a great idea to name the movie after the actual park, if that is actually what Mottola did, because most of my friends from Long Island want to go see it just because of how terrible the park really is.

Adventureland takes place in the summer of 1987. James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) has just finished college, and has some big plans to travel through Europe and move to New York with money he has saved along with some from his parents. Things take a turn for the worse when he finds out that his parents just don’t have the money to give him and he has to pick up a summer job to move to New York. After applying at all sorts of places, he takes a job working at Adventureland, a trashy theme park that he is sure will ruin his summer. To his surprise, over his summer working there he meets a group of new friends and begins to fall for Em (Kristen Stewart).

The movie is both a comedy and a romantic-comedy, but it delivers both types very well. It doesn’t suffer from what I like to call Wedding Crashers Syndrome, which is when a film goes about half way as a standard comedy, then makes an awkward turn to a complete romantic-comedy. Watch Wedding Crashers and try to say it isn’t true. Anyway, this is not the case here because both styles are there throughout the entire movie in all the right doses. We know the entire time that James is having girl trouble and is, in fact, a virgin. It’s no surprise when drama comes up, and it is actually well executed with comical means. The romantic scenes aren’t anything to complain about. They’re all beautiful with perfect music, lighting, and silhouettes that really capture the mood.

The conflicts in the film, along with the settings are all real to life. I feel like most people, in one way or another, will be able to find a little bit of themselves in James’ insecurities. Also, coming home from college and feeling like home basically sucks is something I know a lot of people have dealt with. The awful summer job is something most people can understand, complete with the crazy boss. His love life is pretty realistic too. It isn’t like he hasn’t ever kissed a girl or anything; he just hasn’t done his thing because he hasn’t felt in love. Appealing to the female audience a little bit, making him seem like the sensitive guy they’re looking for.

Em plays a bit of an ...