Adventureland

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Bill Hader, Ryan Reynolds, Kelsey Ford, Michael Zegen
Directed by: Greg Mottola
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama
2009

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A college graduate (Jesse Eisenberg) finds his summer plans fall through, so he has no other option but to get a job at the local amusement park, Adventureland. As he reluctantly works in the dead-end job, he meets a beautiful girl (Kristen Stewart) who seems perfect, and out of place with the rest of the workers, all seemingly down on their luck.

Review:

Tim: Now, Adventureland actually does a lot right. It is a pretty good drama, a pretty good romance, and at least a decent comedy. It offers up that blend of raunchy comedy and heartwarming comedy seen in movies like Superbad and Knocked Up. This should be no surprise, since director Greg Mottola also directed Superbad. The problem is that compared to those better movies, this one just feels like it falls short. It feels like we've mostly seen this story before, and there is not enough different to really make this film feel worthwhile.

It also felt like there wasn't enough real comedy. Whereas some of those previous, similar movies featured truly hilarious moments, this one was missing some of those memorable, funny moments. This film was weakest in the comedy department- the drama and romance were actually not bad at all. I did laugh a few times, but these moments aren't especially easy to remember- there's just no lasting quality here. The romance- especially the film's primary love triangle (or quadrangle, I don't know) is actually quite entertaining.

Jesse Eisenberg does very good work in the lead role. Eisenberg has such an unexpected, different quality to him as an actor. I enjoyed him because he has a unique personality and on-screen presence. He was strong here. Kristen Stewart does good work as well. I'm not sure what it is about her that is so appealing on screen, but she is enjoyable to watch. I liked her here, and I thought she worked well with Eisenberg. Their relationship is the key of this film, and it works very well. The rest of the cast is decent, but very few real standouts. I did like Ryan Reynolds- what is it about him that his mere presence makes a movie more enjoyable? As soon as I see him a movie, the film immediately gets about 10% better. I liked him here. I also thought Margarita Levieva was fairly strong as well.

Adventureland does indeed do quite a bit right. I enjoyed watching this movie, for the most part. The biggest problem is that I couldn't shake the feeling that this movie was simply trying to cash in on the success of similar, better films that came before it. I do like these kind of movies and I hope that Mottola and others continue to make similar films. However, there simply wasn't enough here for me to consider this a good movie. Was it a bad movie? Certainly not. It just doesn't do enough right. That is a bit of a disappointment, but I still derived some enjoyment from this film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Superbad, Knocked Up, Twilight, Waiting..., Just Friends, Zombieland