Adventure Is My Middle Name...

So we saw the film Adventureland last week and I'm just now getting around to posting a review. Directed by Greg Mottola, who's best known for Superbad, Adventureland tells the tale of college graduate James Brennan (played by Jesse Eisenberg) who ends up having to spend the summer working in a local Pennsylvania amusement park during the 80's. You can guess what happens next: he meets quirky yet genuine friends, falls for a girl, and has that defining summer of his life. Yet despite the paint by numbers plot, Adventureland manages to make these events engaging and real. With Superbad, Mottola showed he had a talent for developing characters the audience could genuinely care for. In Adventureland he again uses his skills to avoid the cliches of the teen comedy genre. The girl of James's affection is a pretty but realistic girl with depth and issues, as opposed to the usual unattainable local super hot girl. The "antagonist" of the story is not some mustache twirling villain or even that much of a douche bag, he's just a guy who makes some questionable choices. The 80's setting is just that, a setting. It's not played for jokes or done over the top, like in The Wedding Singer. There are laughs to be had in Adventureland for sure, but be warned this is not the laugh out loud crazy comedy of Superbad. If you want to see a well made coming of age story with well rounded, realistic characters, then check this one out. Oh and the sound track is awesome too.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Adventureland
Dir. by Greg Mottola
Rated R
2009
107 minutes