Two years ago director Gregg Mottola made a huge splash with Superbad. The raunchy and hilarious story of three high school students on the verge of graduation, and their lone night of chasing booze and the possibility of sex. His follow-up Adventureland may lack the lowbrow gags, but manages to score major points by being both perfectly nostalgic and undeniably heartfelt.Jesse Eisenberg stars as James. He is about to go off to college only to discover that his parents can't afford it, and a summer job on his part is required. After exhausting all of his options, James takes a job at the one hiring gig in town. A Low-rent and shabby theme park called Adventureland. The customers look as though they have stumbled out of their trailers (James is nearly stabbed over a "big ass panda"), the pay sucks, and there are several romantic entanglements and complications.
In fact, the relationship drama is where the heart of Adventureland lies. James becomes smitten rather quickly with Em (Kristen Stewart), who seems to slightly share his feelings of attraction. Naturally there is a problem. Em is already secretly sleeping with the theme park's older, not to mention married, repairman Mike (Ryan Reynolds). James also becomes slightly distracted by Lisa P (Margarita Levieva). The local girl who has most likely been ridden more often than the ferris wheel.
The performances are much better than one might expect given this cast. Eisenberg is excellent as the nerd you desperately want to see get the girl. He has such a believable quality of being a brainy and awkward dork you just can't help but back the guy. Stewart is also quite good as the conflicted heroine. It really is a shame her biggest claim to fame is with the Twilight series. To me, it is the only bad role she's done. Her work here along with Panic Room, Into the Wild, and even Zathura is exceptional. Reynolds even managed to sneak up and surprise me. If (like me) you expect him to play the jock ready to fight Eisenberg for the affections of Stewart, you would be wrong. In an inspired move Eisenberg and Reynolds begin as friends and confidants, and even kind of remain so during the whole ordeal. There never is any malice between the two characters. It was decisions like this that make Adventureland stand high above most other films of this genre.
I must also mention the film is set in 1987. There are plenty of perfectly placed subtle references to the decade without being overly obvious about it. In fact the only time it does go too far ended up being one of my favorite moments. The gang goes to a night club called Razzmatazz, where the collars are popped, pink spandex clings to thighs, and Expose's "Point of No Return" blares out of the speakers. It honestly felt great to be drowning in this sea of nostalgia.
Speaking of the music (all 80's of course) there are a few scenes worth mentioning that were magical simply because of the moment, and the perfect song accompanying it. The fireworks moment sparks when set to Crowded House's "Don't Dream it's Over" and The bumper cars montage scored to The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" is lovely. It is four months later, and the soundtrack is still playing in my car.
With the recent passing of John Hughes my recommendation and love for this film has gone even higher. Like m any of his films this one presents teens as smart, likable, and confused people looking for love in a difficult world. Although Hughes had nothing to do with this film, his presence is felt all over it. I'm sure he would have been proud to call it one of his own. A-
Bonus: Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig steal many a scene as the cooky husband and wife team owners of the park.
0 comments:
Post a Comment