Adventureland (2009, Mottola)
June 12th 2010 23:04
Adventureland (Mottola, 2009)
Written June 12, 2010
Adventureland is a surprisingly poignant and serious film about young adulthood, framed around a Pennsylvania amusement park in 1987. Greg Mottola (The Daytrippers, Superbad) continues his blend of comedy and drama, opting more for the drama this time around. For Adventureland, Mottola chose to expand upon the great complexity of adolescence, friendships, and relationships that he explored in Superbad. Adventureland stars Jesse Eisenberg, a young actor whom has burst into the mainstream and is making a name for himself as the unconventional looking, shy ‘leading man’ much like Michael Cera has. Unlike Cera, however, Eisenberg’s roles and performances always seem to have a deeper complexity and even though some of his characters’ mannerisms are similar, Eisenberg is able to bring something uniquely original to each of his roles.
Eisenberg plays James Brennan, a young man who has just graduated with a degree in Comparative Literature and is all set to explore Europe with his best friend when his parents inform him they don’t have the money to send him. James’s best friend goes without him and they make places to leave for New York when his friend returns. In the meantime, James must save up money. Soon learning that no one wants to hire him (and that a degree in Comparative Literature isn’t exactly a transferable skill) James settles for the local amusement park, Adventureland.
The film goes through the numerous characters James meets, including his Meet Cute, Em (Kristin Stewart), and the park’s maintenance guy and part-time musician by trade, Connell (Ryan Reynolds). James and Em have some awkward encounters, one in which James admits to Em that he’s still a virgin. The film structurally takes a surprising turn as the narrative begins to break away from James’ point of view and suddenly focuses on Em’s personal life as well. We soon learn Em has a history with Connell and where the film goes and where it could have gone instead is fascinating. Instead of creating a simple Boy Meets Girl story, Mottola constructs an incredibly mature tale, and moreover, creates a rich character in Em, rather than having her primary function as the love interest of our protagonist. Before long, Em has also become a protagonist in her own right.
The pacing of the film is perfect. The characters take their time on the screen, as Mottola’s camera lingers on certain events that other directs would have cut away from. The awkwardness of James and Em’s interactions is palpable and spot-on. The sexuality is also incredibly palpable and Mottola includes fumbling make-out sessions that almost present these individuals as younger than they are supposed to be. The films soundtrack is incredible, including multiple usages of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground (numerous references to Reed by James are also made in the film), as well as David Bowie, The Cure, The Jesus and Mary Chain (and no, it’s actually not Just Like Honey), and Judas Priest.
The ensemble cast is strong all around and everyone is actually rather understated in their performances. For example, Bill Hader could have hammed it up a bit more, but he doesn’t. There is nice control over the performances and all of these little factors make Adventureland the gem it is. It must be noted that Kristin Stewart is effective in her role and again, like in The Runaways, proves she can definitely act; it will be exciting to see what else she can do once her Twilight obligation is complete. However, the most surprising performance comes from that of usually self-aware, sarcastic and pompous Ryan Reynolds. As someone who can barely tolerate his cinematic presence, it came as shock to be immensely enjoying his performance in this film. It is mature and measured and such a welcome inclusion to the film.
The film was marketed as an almost silly, feel good comedy and as soon as you begin Adventureland you realize that is not the case. If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve basically seen all of the jokes. The laughs are few and far between here and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Instead of being marketed as some type of mainstream comedy (despite never having gained wide release) the film should have been geared more towards older adults rather than teenagers.
To reiterate, the plot of this film is so refreshing. It simply is not your generic coming of age comedy. The conflict never once feels forced and even the last scene was rather brilliant in its culmination and decision on when to cut to black. Adventureland is a film that cannot be more highly recommended and is one of the best films of 2009.
Note: Although set in Pennsylvania, the theme-park in the film is based on a park by the same name located in Long Island, NY, not far from where I live.
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