Adventureland

Gregg Mottola is one of my favourite Directors, I loved Superbad, although this is an entirely different film to it's predecessor it doesnt really struggle to make it's mark as it's a nice/pleasant film to watch. The visual elements of the film are breathtaking and the soundtrack is enthralling but for me there just doesnt seem to be enough going on plot wise. I kind of 'get it' that its a semi-autobiographical story but I just dont feel there will be enough here for enough people to want to see it for what it is. Performance wise Eisenberg and Stewart are okay and Wiig & Hader help out a little & put it their usual dry but quirky sense of humour.

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Jesse Eisenberg as Michael Cera and Kristen Stewart as the girl

Adventureland

Last updated: 2010-04-11 19:49:48 by user01

If you’ve seen Superbad, raise your hand… okay, I’ll trust you have  your hand raised.  Superbad gets better every time I see it… I dont’  know if it was because it was co-written by Seth Rogan, or if its  because of Jonah Hill, and Michael Cera… I dont’ know, we aren’t here  today to talk about Superbad, so that’s besides the point…. But, Superbad was directed by Greg Mottola, who also directed the new  movie Adventureland… starring Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg.
This movie was adorable, to say the least… you know me I like a good  “rom com” (that’s romantic comedy).  The acting was amusing, the story  was simple… and it was totally relatable.
And BILL from Freaks and Geeks was in it… Bill is awesome.
The basic premise is about a guy who takes a job at a local amusement  park to pay for his first semester living expenses for grad school.   While there he meets a girl that he unexpectedly falls in love with.  I  especially love the idea, that someone’s reluctance to taking a crappy  job would lead to them finding the love of their life.  I’m such a sap…
This movie doesn’t have the raunch, or “dick and fart jokes” that  Superbad had… so dont’ go into this expecting that.  This was a  completely original story by director Greg Mottolla.
Besides being a rom com, it’s also a story set inside the  innerworkings of a crappy college job… and I always get a kick out of  movies like that… like Waiting, or Employee of the Month (coincidentally  Waiting and Adventureland also starred Ryan Reynolds).  Something that  makes you shake your head and say “Ohh, that reminds me of the time I  worked at Sears… ” and that’s why I say this movie is relateable…
So, as I have often said in my blog… and will say many times before…  Rent, Buy or Never again… I have to say this might be a rental, but I  could see myself owning this movie someday… like if I found it in a used  bin for 10 bucks.  It was a good movie though… I enjoyed it.
And I have to add that I always enjoy a movie that takes place in, or  references Pittsburgh… I got a love/hate relationship with that town…  and a lot of my closest friends are from there…

Christian Kocinski<br />
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Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristin Stewart, Ryan Reynolds Comedy, 2009

After finding out that his parents are unable to finance his trip to Europe a recent College grad is stuck at home for the summer working a minimum wage theme park job. There he meets Em. Her family is wealthy and she doesn't really need to work there but she does so to spite her father. They seem to hit it off right away and she seems to be the one bright spot in his ruined summer.

• This movie is set in the 80's and I love all of the old songs that were featured in the soundtrack.
• James is this awkward, funny, nerdy and very likable guy. He is the kind of guy that girls should want but often don't because their too busy chasing after the cool, rich guy.
• A great real movie about real people. I could identify with a lot of the characters.
• The clothes and the hair are very bad of course because it is 1987 but other then that the movie was great.

Just Me

Last updated: 2010-03-13 22:49:16 by user05

Review:  This is a movie I wasn't sure what to expect of, but I loved it.  It is a very dry comedy, and I love that about it.  It is not your typical summer college sex comedy.  Although the premise makes it seem like it would be, this movie is too real for that.

The movie centers around a boy who comes back from college after graduation, expecting to go to Europe before moving to New York for grad school.  However, his father losing his job (or is it taking a pay cut at his job, I can't remember) causes him to forgoe his trip to Europe and now he has to get a job and work for the summer.  The job he gets is at the theme park Adventureland.

Through this he meets a girl who he eventually falls in love with.  What transpires is the attempt at him to try win over this girl, who is involved with somebody else, secretly, and get the girl he's always wanted.

What makes this movie so great is how real it is.  The characters in the movie are very real and easy to identify with.  Everyone has their problems and their issues but ultimately, everybody is just trying to find their way in life and make themselves happy.  The lead actor Jesse Eisenberg, gives a great performance, pitch perfect for what was needed.  Kristen Stewart climbs out of her Twilight shadow and gives a great performance, one that makes you realize why the main character is so enamored with her.  A very entertaining, funny movie, definitely worth your time.

"Adventureland" is a wonderfully involving, heart-felt nostalgia piece a lot like "American Graffiti" in texture and tone.

Less an ensemble piece than "Graffiti," "Adventureland" follows twenty-two year-old James Brennan, our resident innocent, caught between college and grad school -- and yes, between being a boy and being a man.

An efficient opening gets James working a game booth at the Adventureland amusement park inside the first ten minutes. There he meets a variety of characters, each of whom feels deeply real.

This social environment is the essence of "Adventureland." It is well-observed enough to trigger our own social navigation reflexes, which makes for an immersive movie-going experience.

The stakes of James' summer at Adventureland go up when he falls for low-key teen siren Kristen Stewart (of recent "Twilight" fame), whose conflicting desires, unhappy home life and extensive sexual experience strike lots of notes that ring true.

Ryan Reynolds, AKA lottery-winner Mister Scarlett Johansson, plays an impossibly cool maintenance man slash soulful musical artist. This makes him an incredibly efficient woman-devouring machine, and a great foil for our more humbly-endowed James.

There's a beautiful element of craft in this movie. The deepest secret of the story, far from being hidden, is presented to the audience very early on. We know a crucial bit of information our boy James would dearly like to know, and that superior position gives every scene a tension and subtext it wouldn't have if writer/director Greg Mottola had held out on us.

Too often film-makers keep their cards face-down till the end of a movie. Partly thanks to M. Night Shyamalan's brilliant but fluky "Sixth Sense," everyone wants to pop a shocking surprise on the audience. Ninety percent of the time it's the main character who should be kept in the dark, not the audience.

Hitchcock expressed this by saying if he could show you a bomb under a desk, then have two men enter the room and discuss baseball for five minutes, the result would be a suspenseful scene.

He was right. "Adventureland" is a movie about a kid with a summer job at an amusement park, but it's more suspenseful than a lot of thrillers out there. It's also touching, sad, funny and complex.

"Adventureland" is a terrific flick.


SCORE:

How Accomplished: 86/100

How Much I Liked It: 90/100

The director of "Superbad" has made the happiest and biggest surprise of the movie year for me. My favorite thing about movies is to be surprised and to have something come out of left field that changes my movie going experience. I expected a small and funny comedy and what I got was one of the best love stories I have seen and a movie full of great joy and depth. I love this movie more than anything for creating a time and place that brought back memories. Anyone who has had that summer job that you know sucked but introduced you to new friends for life should love this movie. For the title character who wants more out of his life has found what he didn't expect, true love. This movie belongs in the long line of classic coming of age dramas and it is one of the best. Jesse Eisenberg is becoming an unusual but wonderful leading man and he is great here. He plays James, a teenager in the 80's who wants to go to college and has to earn money for college and all he can find is a job at an amusement park and we are not talking Great America here. It is a run down and crummy looking park and his job is to run the games and it is a pretty thankless job. Though things will change when he meets a girl that he will start to get a crush on and that he is immediately drawn to. Her name is Em and she is played by a wonderful new actress in Kristen Stewart. I have been following Stewart's career since "The Panic Room" and "Into The Wild" and I think she is an amazing actress. The Twilight movies are beneath her talents but here she is perfect. If I was a boy near her age I would be completely in love with her. She is a very smart actress and here she creates a very mature, beautiful and sexy woman and I can see why James is captivated by her. She creates a little mystery to those around her but she makes you want to find out more about her and what makes her tick. Ryan Reynolds is also at his best here and this is the first time I really enjoyed him in a movie. The movie is funny, touching and the ending is just right and breathtaking. This creates a time and place flawlessly and the second time I saw it I fell in love with it even more. I know I lot of people have gone through what James has and I think they will identify with it. This movie wasn't a big hit but if enough people seek it out it should become a classic over time. Some people found this movie just okay and a lot of people don't like Stewart. That is fine but what I found here is a movie that touched me more than any movie this year. I have gone through all James has gone through and I know most people have. This movie captures the growing pains, the first true crush and love, the yearning for hapiness that all teenagers strive for and it captures it flawlessly.

Vincent Snavely

Adventureland takes place in the good old 1980's... 1987 to be exact. Jesse Eisenberg plays James, a recent college graduate in desperate need of money who takes a job at a local amusement park (called Adventureland). He really doesn't want to work there but it seems to be the only place willing to hire him for the summer. He needs a summer job so that he can attend graduate school.
The movie is directed by Greg Mottola who also directed Superbad. That was a much more in-your-face type of movie. It focused more on sex and had some crude jokes here and there. Whereas this film also centers on a character who hasn't yet lost his virginity, the focus here is not on trying to just have sex but rather on his relationship with a co-worker at the amusement park. He meets Em, played by Kristen Stewart, and almost instantly falls for her. She has kind of a care-free attitude on the outside that he seems to be attracted to. But on the inside she's really not happy with her life. This is somewhat due to her father and his new wife, but also because of her own sexual relationship with a married man played by Ryan Reynolds.
Adventureland holds your interest as you wonder what will happen with James and Em, being that she is a little more reckless and he is rather reserved but willing to go along for the ride in order to gain her affection. Eisenberg is basically playing the exact same kind of character that Michael Cera plays in Superbad and pretty much every other movie he's ever been in. Yet I didn't want to punch Eisenberg in the face as I often do with Cera. He's a bit more subtle and maybe less sarcastic.
I usually enjoy movies that take place in the 80's and it's cool to hear songs like "Rock Me Amadeus", even if they're making fun of it here. Saturday Night Live cast members Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig play the couple who runs Adventureland. They're very funny together and I wished they were in the movie a little more. But overall it was a nice throwback kind of a film which I recommend for anyone who yearns for a little 80's nostalgia.

http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-philadelphia/danny-porcaro

Last updated: 2009-12-29 00:46:55 by thatmoviedude

In 2007, director Greg Mottola made a huge dent in the world of comedy with the hit Superbad. With the assistance of writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, he delivered one of the funniest films of the year and still kept it sincere underneath the loads of vulgar language. In 2009, Mottola went out on his own and wrote and directed the film Adventureland, a project probably very close to his heart because he worked at the real Adventureland long ago. For his sake, I hope this was not an account of his actual experiences there. Not only was this film about as funny as stubbing your toe on the refridgerator, it was overrun with whiny characters that pulled no sympathy from me.

It's 1987 and James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) just graduated from college. Before attending Graduate school at Columbia, James wants to spend some time in Europe in hopes of losing his virginity to an easy foreign girl. But when the cost of his trip increases unexpectedly, James is forced to find himself a summer job to pay for the difference. Enter Adventureland, the local amusement park where James' friend Frigo (Matt Bush, the kid from the AT&T commercials, and the only funny part of this film) works. After a brief interview with park manager Bobby (Bill Hader) and his wife Paulette (Kristen Wiig), James begins his thrilling career as a game shack attendant. Life looks bleak for James until he is spotted by Em (Kristen Stewart), another game attendant. The two spark up a friendship that soon turns into romantic feelings for James. But Em's chaotic home life and an attractive musician mechanic named Connell (Ryan Reynolds) jeopardize James' chance of making this summer one he will remember forever, in a good way at least. Falsely advertised as a comedy, Adventureland is a drama chronicling the life of a post-graduate loser in Reagan era Long Island.

Adventureland did have one aspect going for it in it's favor. It was a realistic film in how people, specifically younger generations, interacted with each other in their awful job environment. The awkward and somewhat gloomy nature of these poor souls was a truthful account, so in that respect Mottola did a great job at writing. However, this brings up a serious problem in the film. Real life is not all that funny. In Superbad, the friendship between the two main characters was real, but events in the film were heavily exaggerated to accommodate the comedy of the film. In Adventureland, everything that happened was practical and thus much less funny. Mottola left little room for comedy and instead put heavy effort into developing his characters. In a dramatic film, character development is key. There needs to be a significant amount of it in order to draw an audience in. However, a comedy does not need nearly as much attention put in to the characters. In a good comedy, such as Superbad, the very beginning of the film introduces us to exactly who our main protagonists are. As the film progresses, subtle actions inside the comedy reveal more and more about the characters, but we are never force fed the material. Mottola takes this short 5 minutes of character introduction and stretches it into a full hour. Because of this, there is no light-hearted interlude between the moments we meet our friend James and the main issue of the film. It is drama through and through, and I was looking for a comedy.

Perhaps the biggest disease that Adventureland suffered from was the fact that it was a character driven film with boring characters and lackadaisical actors. Jesse Eisenberg plays the soft spoken intellectual James in a static way that is reminiscent of Michael Cera. Both emit an air of pathetic awkwardness, and neither ever really raise their voice beyond a certain level. The only difference is that Michael Cera is actually funny. Line after line Eisenberg delivers with the same "enthusiasm", and never once did he bring a smile to my face. Much like Paul Rudd's character in I Love You, Man was embarrassing to watch, Eisenberg overplays the quirkiness of his role and never shows the maturity that his character supposedly gained. The lone bright spot as far as performances go belongs to Kristen Stewart, who may have actually been too good for her role. The confusion and mayhem that was Em's life is brought forth with stunning strength though Stewart's performance. I say she may have been too good for this role because since everybody else was so awful and she was so spot on, the gap between was uncomfortably recognizable. However good of a job Stewart did though can be overlooked by the fact that she too, has not a single comedic line in Adventureland. So far, we have a comedy with two main characters. One is pathetically unfunny despite his best efforts, and the other is straight-laced and meant to amp up the drama. Forget good performances, somebody say something funny! It was here that the supporting cast contributed hugely to the film. Matt Bush as James' pestering friend was by far the funniest aspect of Adventureland, but was unfairly underutilized. I have seen Bush in a few TV commercials and I was glad to see that he transferred well onto a big screen. His future in the film industry will hopefully long, despite his upcoming project, Halloween 2. And of course, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig deliver as always but are, like Bush, rarely on screen. Martin Starr, as James' game shack mentor Joel, provides little to nothing to film, and may as well have been dropped from the script entirely.

It can be argued that Adventureland was not meant to be a comedy in the vein of Superbad but rather a touching coming of age story. This statement I can live with, but respectfully disagree. This film has been marketed vigorously as a hilarious follow-up to Superbad so that is exactly what I expected. Marketing this film as a comedy makes about as much sense as marketing Schindler's List as a great date movie. But judging Adventureland as a coming of age tale does not help it much. Because of the dismal acting and irritating characters, the journey into manhood didn't interest me in the slightest. The final resolution to the film is predictable and conjured not a single emotion from me. The characters themselves showed little emotion to any situation presented to them. They simply looked bored, and that made me bored with them.

Adventureland is a very long 107 minutes that is only good for a few chuckles and one solitary worth while performance. Greg Mottola has fallen victim to the sophomore slump, falling well short of the expectations brought about by Superbad. To those of you who may complain that I am being unfair by comparing this film to Superbad, let me say this. Adventureland as a lone film was boring, not funny, and a waste of $8. My rating (2/10)

Working at a amusement park isn’t so bad after all.
Unable to afford the European vacation he’d dreamed of, recent  college grad James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) reluctantly takes a gig at a  local amusement park, only to learn that the dead-end job is, in fact,  excellent preparation for the real world. He soon falls in love with a a  wild child named Em (Kristen Stewart).

Adventureland is from writer and director Greg Mottola, who also  directed the super hit Superbad, and as you can see there are many  similarities. Jesse Eisenberg played a very awkward kid looking for  reason, and a lot of topics on drugs and drinking. Though this one seems  to score a lot more with me.

The film is a lot more mature than Superbad and that it provides  better insight of a coming-of-age teen. The very first half of this film  is actually really funny and interesting. I was interested in these  characters in where they went and what happened to them, provided with a  arsenal of laughs. Though as it started to go on it started to really  whine down the humor and its character insight and focus more on the  relationship between Eisenberg and Stewart.

The problem I had with this film is not so much of the movie as it is  the trailers. The trailers had it out to look as if it was a summer  crazy teen movie, but however it’s not. It was advertised as a hilarious  slapstick and that’s kind of expecting from this movie, but I didn’t. I  was expecting to have my gut full of laughter like Superbad, but didn’t  which is what kind of ruined this film for me in the end.

Lastly, I didn’t understand how Stewart’s character fell for  Eisenberg’s. He is really awkward and really geeky while she is pretty  wild and full of fun, and I just don’t see how they can fall for one  another. But I guess that’s why they call it cinema.

The humor in this is not like Superbad. It doesn’t have much  gross-out humor and less profanity. This features a lighter tone that is  aimed towards the teens but also can work with the parents. Its wise  and very realistic appeals to all and can make anybody watching this  film laugh.

The ensemble cast is probably the best picked I have seen in awhile.  To say Eisenberg is doing a Cera is underestimating him and his talent,  and in all Eisenberg gives a wonderful and strong lead performance. I  liked how all the smaller characters were very developed in this as  well. Lots of the smaller characters steal the show and just add the  comedic factor to this movie.

The soundtrack is one of the main reasons I enjoyed this film. There  are many touching and great moments caught on camera that have great  songs overplaying everything else and make me feel the emotion coming  off the screen.

Consensus: A realistic screenplay, well-acted ensemble, and rocking  80’s soundtrack makes this film a very funny but touching coming-of-age  movie.

8.5/10=Matinee!!

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Adventureland had a lot to live up to near my neck of the woods. Residing on Long Island, I, along with many of my friends, are overly familiar with the amusement park and its various controversies (2 deaths) and joys. Greg Mottola’s last film was the comedy classic in-the-making Superbad, and the latter is universally known for its excess teen sex jokes and flooded foul mouth dialogue. Although the film makes you laugh out loud endlessly, I could not help but notice the familiarity behind the entire premise. Three virgins who want to lose their virginity before they start college. American Pie anyone? But then a funny thing happened. Its third act took a sudden but delightful turn into the coming-of-age sentiment. We find out all the potty jokes, bad language, put-downs, and egocentric perspective from Seth was all just an illusion to mask the uncomfortable feeling he has towards his best friend’s departure to college in the fall. It was that third act that cemented and separated Superbad from the rest of the junk pertaining to teen sex, as well as categorizing itself as one of the better comedies in the last five or ten years. Forget all those trailers and TV spots. Adventureland is basically the third act of Superbad. Although not as memorable or as amusing as other superior comedies, Adventureland is best viewed as an authentic coming-of-age film with Jessie Eisenburg and Kristen Stewart giving terrific performances.
James Brennan (Eisenberg) is a college grad in 1987 looking to go to Europe with his best friend. After his parents tell him they have run into financial trouble and can no longer fund his trip, Brennan is forced into work at “Adventureland.” Eisenburg dials the same kind of mannerism you would see in a Michael Cera, although not as amusing or obvious as the latter. Although he wanted to work the rides, James is stuck working the games. At the other end of the park section is Em (Kristen Stewart). She is just as interesting, if not even more layered than Jessie. While Jessie’s family, financial troubles aside, seem to be a warming, functional dynamic, Em’s family is less functional. Probably not too functional at all. As James and Em find each other, James dealing with post-adolescent sex issues and Em juggling a secret affair with an older employee, a remarkable love story begins to take form.
Sure there are plenty of jokes to go around, with Bill Hader’s portrayal of the park manager more than satisfying, the arc between James and Em is essentially what Adventureland entails in its arsenal. Part of the reason this arc works so well beckons perfect introductory direction from Motolla. He brings the audience on a journey filled with 80’s music, fashion, culture, and personality. It all feels real, and is probably the best slice of 80’s teen life since Richard Kelly dazzled viewers with his brilliant cult film Donnie Darko. Motolla’s script is careful in turning the heat up on this relationship. At once blowing the camera up with a boner joke or two, Motolla reels you in with a poignant sequence involving James, Em, fireworks, and the classic 80’s song “Don’t Dream It’s Over” from Crowded House. James, never having a relationship last this long as shown in the opening reels, declares his undying love for Em. Naturally, Em’s defense mechanism is to push away and retreat to her secret affair with the already married Mike Connel (Ryan Reynolds).
Supporting work from Margarita Levieva as Lisa P. is both funny and informative. She is the park’s biggest “tease,” a beautiful, if not overly ditsy personality whose reputation resembles something of a Madonna figure. Kristen Wigg’s subtle but also brilliant performance as the manager’s wife is equally funny as it is intelligent. She conjures just the right amount of non-emotion, if you will, to breath an ambitious personality to this character. It was certainly something overlooked by most moviegoers. The rest of the cast, mostly consisting of twenty somethings that buy weed from James are there for the comic relief. There are punches to the balls, urination scenes, and as aforementioned, boner jokes that are embedded to suit viewers with a easily satisfied jugular. However, Motolla never lets these scenes crowd the bigger picture. Part of the problem with the American Pie movies, or even something as oftenly praised as Animal House is that they fail to put the needed time into its characters and rely solely on the jokes at hand. Sure James sells pot and characters are often seen smoking it up in the parking lot, but never does Adventureland suddenly unravel into another Half-Baked or Cheech and Chong disaster. It all feels real.
Although the film’s central character is Jessie, it is Kristen Stewart’s Em who steals the show. Stewart’s stiff portrayals in the Twilight films are totally erased from the mind while she undoubtedly immerses herself into this character. Is she only as good as her script? Only time will tell. Every parental conflict, relationship climax, and emotional insurgence is grounded perfectly in reality. Stewart breaths a certain energy into her character when dealing with a confrontation with Jessie in the middle of the street. It is the highest point on her quickly growing resume. Eisenburg undoubtedly draws comparisons to Michael Cera but low and behold, stands his ground throughout and gives a showcase that stands on its two feet all by itself. Yes, he is concerned with never having sex before, but never does it crowd more significant issues, like college or his promised life in New York City.
Sadly, the film takes two steps back in its last 10 minutes, conforming to traditional romantic endings you would see in stuff like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days or Hitch for that matter. With the latter exemplified, Adventureland loses a potential half star and dwindles away from the delightful authenticity that proceeded it. Sure nothing that ground breaking or new pops up during its time on the screen, but Motolla has crafted what is probably his most authentic script to date. While Bill Hader may steal viewers away with his scene involving a baseball bat, others, like myself, will feel warm and joy viewing a beautiful coming-of-age story that takes leaps and bounds over most of what Hollywood has to offer. You just wish the film closed as well as it started.