Adventureland (2009)

Adventureland (2009)

Written and Directed by Greg Mottola

           

            In a year full of surprises, I unabashedly consider Adventureland my biggest film surprise of 2009.  Those who know me know of my extreme hatred for the social phenomenon known as “Twilight.”  In fact, I don’t just hate the movies, I hate the books, I hate the people who act in the movies, I hate the people who make the props, and if it weren’t for the fact that half of the women in my family participate in the phenomenon, I would hate the people who read the books as well.  Until I saw Adventureland, my loathing extended to Kristen Stewart.  Now I mostly don’t mind her, but I actively tell people to see this movie, if only to see KStew’s fantastic, career-defying performance.

            Adventureland is a movie that perfectly captures the essence of not only the late 80’s, but it also captures exquisitely what it feels like to be young.  The flick takes place in 1987, and our lead is James, played with ease by Jesse Eisenberg (brother of that little Welch’s girl from the mid-90’s and star of Zombieland).  When James’ parents suffer a huge career setback, his dreams of travelling Europe and attending an Ivy League school whislt living in New York are set on fire and thrown to sea without a lifejacket.  In order to salvage what little future he still has, James takes a job at a local theme park called “Adventureland.”  Here he learns important life lessons and blah blah blah.  The thing about this movie is it takes things that we’ve seen over and over, but it does it in such a sweet, original way that you can’t help but fall in love.

            First and foremost, the comedy is gold here.  Martin Starr provided me with more laughs in this 107 minutes than Miss March, Fired Up, and I Love You, Beth Cooper combined.  His line delivery was amazing every time, and for me he definitely stole the show.  Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig also showed up to prove why they are the only good part of Saturday Night Live these days, although Wiig pretty much played the same character she plays every time she appears on SNL, and in my opinion, it’s getting pretty old, pretty fast.  However, she kept the laughs coming here, and I put up with it.  Ryan Reynolds gave a few good one-liners, as per usual, but this was really more of a dramatic outing for him, which came as a great surprise to me.  That brings me to my next point – the drama part of the story.

            Altough this flick is at points hilarious, for the most part it remains darkly comic, nostalgic, and just kind of serious.  This is more the story of a young man growing up than it is the gross-out teen comedy that it was billed as, and that we’ve come to expect from Hollywood, and therein lies the true beauty of the movie.  As the main character, Jesse Eisenberg performs far better than Michael Cera would have.  He plays the character as a sensitive, nerdy, inexperienced teenager, and he’s incredibly likable and believable.  His love interest is Em, played by Kristen Stewart, and this is where my biggest surprise came from.  Stewart isn’t the whiny, mopey, needy little girl that she is in the Twilight movies.  Here she’s a young girl, on the brink of womanhood, exploring her sexuality and experimenting with drugs.  The first time she nonchalantly utters the “F” word, you’ll realize that this is not the Bella that you’re used to, and it’s a refreshing performance.  The great thing is that she’s more than likely just playing herself, and it’s entirely likable.  Another performance that really shocked me in this movie was that of Margarita Levieva as Lisa P, the chick that everybody in Adventureland wants to bone.  Although she was basically just there to dance around looking hot, she really made the role a little bit more playful and deep than say, Megan Fox would have.

            Another key to making this movie better than it should have been was the musical selection.  The soundtrack includes key 80’s tracks from Judas Priest, Whitesnake, Lou Reed, The Cure, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Rolling Stones, and many many others.  While on paper it sounds like your dads classic rock radio station, in the movie it really lends to the authenticity of maintaining the reality of the movie.  The songs really work well and they make the flick just that  much better.

            Adventureland is not the movie that you think it is.  While it was mostly advertised as an average teen comedy, it is actually a transcendant adult movie about growing up.  It’s one of my favorite movies from 2009 and I definitely recommend it.  If you’re in the mood to watch a great comedy with a lot of heart, then pick this up.  It’s also a great weapon against the Kristen Stewart haters.  I’m gonna go with 9/10.