If one believes in giving credit where credit is due, then director Greg Mottola deserves a great deal. After his breakout hit “Superbad” in the summer of 2007, he easily could have leveraged his success to head up some much larger projects that probably wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good. Instead, he chose to write and direct “Adventureland,” a smaller coming-of-age comedy with some serious dramatic clout.
“Adventureland,” follows the story of James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg), a recent college grad who is rather unceremoniously told by his parents that rather than traveling across Europe for the summer and attending Columbia for grad school, he must return home and get a job. The story takes place in 1987, with the Reagan-era economic crisis leading James to take a dead-end job at a local amusement park. There he meets Em (Kristen Stewart) and begins a summer of self-discovery. Sounds cliché and boring, I know, but this film actually has a great deal going for it.
Let’s get one thing straight before we go any further: this is not “Superbad.” Mottola’s last film featured larger-than-life characters with raw charisma and razor wit to spare. In comparison, “Adventureland” features painfully normal characters, with all the shortcomings one could expect from people they might actually know. Probably because this film is based on Mottola’s own experiences, the entire production has an undercurrent of reality that is somewhat disconcerting at times. The relationship between James and Em is very believable. They move about their mutual attraction awkwardly, making it quite clear that neither knows exactly how to talk to the other, a refreshing bit of realism when most on-screen romances work from polished scripts where everyone knows exactly the right thing to say.
Billed as a comedy, the film will have audience members chuckling, with the most hilarious moments from amusement park manager Bobby (Bill Hader) and his wife Paulette (Kristen Wiig). However, the film is much deeper than it lets on. Ryan Reynolds abandons his usual role in films as the resident smug badass. Instead, he plays Connell, a man split between his twin personas as heroic rock star to the teens and twenty-somethings he works with at the amusement park, but a loser to almost everyone else. His affair with Em would have branded him a villain in almost any other film, but “Adventureland” presents a complex human being with the some pitiable shortcomings.
“Adventureland” will likely resonate very deeply with audiences aged 16-24. Older viewers might appreciate the humor but roll their eyes a considerable bit, what with them being so “worldly and experienced,” and younger folk will find it inaccessible. Literary majors with no idea what they’re going to do with their degree especially will find an undeniable truth in this film.
After college, we’re boned.
