Adventureland
Heartfelt 80s nostalgia receives a warm celebration in Adventureland, a light and entertaining comedy from writer and director Greg Mottola. Adventureland is Mottola’s sophomore feature, a fun and fluffy follow-up to his raucous debut, the brilliant 2007 comedy Superbad. Both of Mottola’s movies focus on the awkward transition from adolescence to adulthood, so Adventureland comes equipped with many of the same themes and ideas that perfectly populated Superbad. But the unmistakable sense of familiarity is something that Mottola uses to his advantage. His love for this kind of coming-of-age tale is instantly recognizable and so Adventureland succeeds as a sweet and effective trip down a clichéd memory lane.
Set in the summer of 1987, Adventureland tells the story of high school graduate James (Jesse Eisenberg, easily channelling nerdy adolescent discomfort), whose plans for a transformative trip to Europe go up in smoke when his parents can no longer foot the bill. Things take another depressing turn when James discovers he’s moving to Pittsburgh, where he will have to find a summer job in order to pay for his planned post-summer relocation to New York City. With his hopes and dreams resting on an autumn education at Columbia University, James figures he simply has to survive the summer of 1987 and then some semblance of balance will be returned to his life.
But since this movie is about the summer and not about James’ unmapped future, it’s obvious that not everything is going to go according to plan. With little work experience to call upon, James is forced to settle for the only summer job he can get: running a games booth at Adventureland, the local carnival run by a lovably wacky married couple (played by Saturday Night Live alums Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig). James settles in for a long and boring summer, complete with the humiliation of being a carnival worker. But while engaging in what one employee describes as “the work of pathetic, lazy morons,” James meets a smart and funny young woman named Em (Kristen Stewart, of Twilight fame) and his summer quickly turns around.
Once the scattered pieces of the plot are in place, it’s hugely obvious where Adventureland’s story is headed. There are no surprises waiting down the road and the ending is as predictable as coming-of-age conclusions can be. But the strange thing about Adventureland is that it earns its ending because the characters are worth the emotional investment required to care. Mottola has great faith in his cast and his straightforward, confident direction steers the movie into very satisfying territory with incredible ease. We’ve seen it all before, but somehow, in some way, Mottola makes this recycled narrative matter.
Eisenberg and Stewart play their roles with a convincing combination of adolescent confusion and budding maturity, which helps paint James and Em as believable kids with a promising path before them. The two characters feel like wholly original creations and credit for this accomplishment should be equally handed out to Eisenberg, Stewart, and Mottola. The story may be stale on the surface, but the lovable characters make Adventureland feel fresh. It helps that Eisenberg and Stewart share sparkling chemistry together, ensuring that the romantic drive of the narrative feels natural and warranted.
Many of the jokes in Adventureland fall a little flat, but there remains a handful of good laughs. This is not a completely hilarious ride, but what the movie lacks in explosive humour, it makes up for with tender heart. That may not sound like the most enthusiastic compliment for a comedy movie, but considering the cinematic beating the genre has taken recently (Land of the Lost, Year One, and Funny People are all terrible movies devoid of intelligence), Adventureland’s calm and cuddly sweetness is a welcome respite. Mottola has comfortably located the adoring nostalgic honesty required to make his movie work. Adventureland is never about poking fun at the 80s, but rather about embracing the joys of adolescence and the universal reach of that intangible thing called love.
