Adventureland (2009)

ADVENTURELAND is director Greg Mottola's follow-up to "Superbad," and though both films share the thematic thread of youth in discovery and the complications that romance (or the seeking of romance) throw into such discovery, ADVENTURELAND is much more nuanced. I probably laughed just as much (or at least almost as much) watching this film as I did "Superbad," and ADVENTURELAND benefits from a realism and sweetness that his previous film lacked.

Starring Jesse Eisenberg (who has been a favorite of mine since the criminally underwatched "Rodger Dodger") as a young man graduating college in 1987, ADVENTURELAND is a story, in many ways, of settling. Fully expecting to go Columbia for graduate school, Eisenberg's James Brennan is blindsided when he learns that circumstances are now such that his parents can no longer afford to send him there. He'll have to defer his dream, they advise him, and get a job. Naturally, James is highly over-qualified for anything available to him. Lord knows I can relate. And he ends up taking a job working at a scrappy amusement park called Adventureland. For those of you who grew up around the time this film is set in the Chicago area as I did, think Santa's Village, not Great America.

James is too serious to get excited in front of patrons playing the park's rigged games, though he is expected to do so by his bosses, a quirky couple played by SNL stars Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig, both in underused, minor parts. And though he might feel as though "turning his brain off" is a good way for him to get over a recent breakup, he soon falls in love with a coworker. The object of his affections is Em Lewin, a girl with relatively grounded charms and a few secrets who's played wonderfully here by Kristen Stewart, the Twilight girl. (Disclaimer: I have not seen or read any Twilight, so the only baggage I brought to this film with her was her work in "Into the Wild," which was also quite good.)

As James navigates the weirdos who work at Adventureland, he befriends a maintenance worker at the park played by Ryan Reynolds in a seriously toned-down role for him. Reynold's character is all the macho that Eisenberg (who could seriously be Michael Cera's brother) isn't, and he seems attracted to spending time with this man just to pick up on some of his lady skills and street wisdom, pig that he is. It's so surprise that the ways in which James is forced to compromise his original vision for himself cause complications in much the same way that Benjamin Braddock compromises his potential in "The Graduate." In fact, I saw many parallels between these two films.

I also saw and heard a lot of the sweet 80s nostalgia that I love so dearly here, and that might have elevated ADVENTURELAND to a higher level for me. I thought that Mottola used music particularly well, from the monotonous repetition of "Rock Me, Amadeus" as a minor sub-plot item to the sweet ennui of "Don't Dream It's Over" and the Flying Bobs-ready anthem of disco pop Shannon's "Let the Music Play." All skate! Mottola makes this film an 80s experience, so it is reminiscent in sweetness and nostalgia to the work of the recently-departed John Hughes. The way ADVENTURELAND keeps from being as forced in pace, tone and humor as "Superbad" was happens to be, for me, one of its strongest assets.

I think ADVENTURELAND is much more accomplished than most of the recent batch of gross-out teen comedies, and probably has a bit more of use to say. This is a slow-moving and quiet film, but it's also an honest one. And for those of us who love our 1980s nostalgia, you can't Beat It. Pun intended.

3.5 out of 4