"SUPERBAD's Greg Mottola directs this comedy about a floundering college grad (Jesse Eisenberg) who decides to work at an amusement park when his post-graduation plans fall through. ADVENTURELAND's talented cast includes Kristen Stewart (INTO THE WILD), Ryan Reynolds (DEFINITELY, MAYBE), and KNOCKED UP cast members Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, and Martin Starr."
The meek, charming, go-getter virgin getting the girl of his dreams has already been done to death. In fact, it's been done especially well by other movies of this genre already, including one of this director's previous works, Superbad. The advertising and overall feel of this movie just exudes more of the same. With all of that said, ignore your instincts that you might feel about this movie being more of the same, ignore the advertisements which are misrepresenting this movie and causing you to believe it's going to be 'Average Teen Sex Comedy 4'(ie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F--nHysJkw). Instead, be ready to embrace this movie for what it is; a drama, dipped in a vat of comedy with some romance drizzled on top, and some angsty sprinkles.
That was really terrible. I'm sorry.
Anyway, Adventureland is a movie which takes place in the 80's, although if it weren't for the music choice and the overabundance of alchohol available to minors I don't think I would be able to tell this decade apart from our own. Something that really appealed to me about this movie was that, although it isn't my time period, there was such a connection that formed between the characters and the audience that it didn't matter what age group they fit into, it was all relative to them. Everyone has worked that one shitty job, some of us may still be working that same shitty job now. We know what it's like. Thankfully, the movie doesn't rely on this. It instead just uses that as an added factor along with Greg Mottola's wonderful directing/writing style, and the great ability that all of the actors have at drawing us in on their own.
Most notable here acting-wise is, surprisingly, Kristen Stewart, who after coming from Twilight I would never expect this kind of performance from. Kristen becomes Emily, and she's more real here than anyone else involved in the film. She's terrific at portraying this girl, in all of her saddest and most beautiful moments. She creates an undeniable aura about herself with the help of Mottala's direction, and she performs so wonderfully here that I can't help but wonder why Twilight was even on her radar. She could be doing much bigger and better things.
Not to detract from the others, however. Jesse Eisenberg was made for this role it seems, but not as the same sex-starved youngster we see in so many movies which might appear similar to this one. He is a virgin, yes, but this is a side note. It's a part of his character, a character who would much prefer his idea of true love as opposed to the thought of getting in bed with whoever he might think is the hottest (which is delved into further in the movie.) Martin Starr plays a fantastic supporting role as Joel, and Ryan Reynolds shockingly drops his smarmy attitude this time around. In exchange, he becomes a truly tragic character. He depicts a miserable, miserable man, and it becomes apparent partway through the movie that the man he's depicting is only half the man he says he is, perhaps even less. Being a big Reynolds fan, it was fairly shocking to see him take on a role like this, although it was very welcomed on my end. Seeing the same witty, romantic 'classhole' all the time was becoming redundant, and I genuinely enjoyed his performance here not as a villian or a nice guy, just a very real, though very sad, person.
The use of music here is completely spot-on, including sounds from the 80's (The Cure, The Replacements, not to mention some AMADEUS AMADEUS, ROCK ME AMADEUS) which can, strangely, create nostalgia in those not even born in that period. Regardless, everything musical here feels appropriate at all times, and suits the tone in such a way that I couldn't imagine any other soundtrack doing the job that this one does.
At first I hesitated in writing a review for this movie, but upon closer examination of some of the trailers for it and the way it's being promoted, I feel the need to say something about it, if only to clear up any misunderstandings. I feel like there's some trend going on of movies that are being falsely advertised. Not the normal kind of false advertisement, the kind where you see the funniest parts of the movie in the trailer and the rest falls flat. You know the kind. I'm used to that, what I mean is the kind where it completely flips around its genre, or where it puts this impression into your head of how it will be, only to completely surprise and/or disappoint you. This isn't the 40-Year-Old Virgin, or Superbad. Not that there's anything wrong with either of those, it just isn't the same brand as this particular film. This is poetic, intimate, and yes, funny, but the laughs are heartfelt. They're well-earned.
