Review: Adventureland

Let us analyze the trailer for Adventureland for a moment, shall we? First, we see a recent college graduate who can’t afford his European summer trip, so he ends up working at the only place in town that will accept him: the theme park Adventureland. The trailer then shows ALL of the funny moments in the film, some of which do not even make it in to the movie. You would also think that being from the director of Superbad would also make this a comedy. Well, yet again, the trailer has lied to me. Even the red band trailer couldn’t prepare me for a film that is supposed to be about the “best time of one’s life” (again, according to the trailer).

Adventureland is actually about James Brennan, a recent college graduate who, when his father gets a new job within the company, can no longer afford to take his summer trip to Europe and instead needs to spend the summer earning enough money to have an apartment while he studies at Columbia. Not exactly the set-up for a comedy, eh? So, with the help of his immature childhood friend Frigo (Matt Bush of the AT&T commercials) he obtains a job at a local theme park called Adventureland. There James meets Em (Kristen Stewart) and begins a summer romance. However, James is unaware of Em’s naughty little past and he himself is tempted to go over the edge by drugs, alcohol, and other girls.

What is surprising about the script is how realistic it is. What is bad about the script is how realistic it is. Real life can be boring and depressing and that is what Adventureland turns into. The dialogue sounds like what we say every day, with all the umms, breaks, and confusing non sequiturs included. In a way this is an achievement for writer/director Greg Mottola, to be able to transfer real life into a film, but he isn’t able to take the moments that need amping up to hold our attention either. The movie begins at a fast pace, but lacks any direction to propel the movie further. I found myself checking my watch from the halfway point of the film, all the way to the end, because I had no way to sense how far I was into the movie. The usual plot points were absent in this realistically painful portrayal of a summer job gone awry.

What saves the film from being a waste of celluloid are the performances. The dialogue would not come off as realistic if the actors did not perform it in such a way. Sadly, the star, Jesse Eisenberg does not first jump to mind when I think about great acting in the film, despite him having the leading role. Kristen Stewart, on the other hand, does. Forget Twilight because this girl can act. She brings raw energy to the character of Em Lewin. You truly can feel her pain and suffering in her very cathartic performance. Ryan Reynolds, as the park’s maintenance man, also shines in his role, playing a more mature character than his comedic films have allowed him. The cast rocks from top to bottom, including Wendie Malick as Jame’s mom who has unbelievable timing and delivery.

The music of the film works off and on again, just as the hits are brought in and out of the film. Not all of the songs would immediately be defined as 80s classics. Maybe for thirty and forty year olds they would have been more memorable, but I found the soundtrack to be hit and miss.

Overall, Adventureland was a huge disappointment. Not just because it wasn’t the movie I went to see, I caught on to that quite early, but because the message of the film was quite depressing. Not to spoil the ending, but most of the film’s final act is full of only minor victories. Maybe for those viewers who have grown up and are in a stable relationship and life this movie can be viewed as reminiscent. But for someone in the same state as James this movie just makes me want to go home and cry.