Adventureland

"Of course". Those are the words I kept on saying to myself while watching Adventureland. And for once, it wasn't because I was finding the film I was watching derivative and predictable. This is a movie that remembers the time the story is set in (1987), as well as what it's like to be the age the characters are as they're facing uncertain futures. The deceptive ad campaign wants people to think this is another raunchy teen comedy, but Adventureland is one of the most genuine and honest coming of age stories I've seen in a while.

It's fitting I saw this movie immediately after I saw Bart Got a Room. Both films are semi-autobiographical looks at the writer-director's own youth. They are also both perfect examples of the right and wrong way to go about it. With Bart, filmmaker Brian Hecker seemed to rely entirely on personal nostalgia, while forgetting to give us characters and a storyline we could care about. With Adventureland, writer-director Greg Mottola (Superbad) gives us a number of wonderful characters who come to life not only because they act and talk like real people, but because the performances are so down to Earth and real. Yes, the plot is old hat and holds absolutely no surprises for anyone who has seen a coming of age film. It is the style and the care that went into the film that makes it special. The characters, the dialogue, the humor, the emotion, and the fitting soundtrack (filled with both popular and long-forgotten songs from the era) that almost becomes a character itself...There's so much about this movie that it gets right.

When James (Jesse Eisenberg) graduates from college, he has dreams of traveling across Europe for the summer before going on to graduate school in New York. His parents, in a rather cruel move, wait until his graduation day to tell him that they won't be able to pay for those things anymore due to the fact his father's job has hit hard times. James, having never held a job in his life, now finds all doors in life slammed shut and he must begin a search for any job that will hire him. The only place willing to do so is Adventureland, a third rate theme park where the rides look like antiques even in the film's late 80s setting, the games are rigged, and the only adventure to be found is wether or not you'll get a disease from eating one of the corn dogs that have not been properly stored and refrigerated before being cooked. James' new boss (Bill Hader) puts him on "Games" duty, where he must hand out stuffed animal prizes to those who actually do win one of the park's many carnival games. The only rule James must follow is that nobody wins the really big animal prizes, such as the infamous "big ass panda" toy.

Depression over the tedium of the job and being forced to listen to "Rock Me, Amadeus" 20 times a day on the park's speaker system quickly sets in, but James is at least able to make a few close friends along the way with his other employees. Chief amongst them are Joel (Martin Starr), whose goal in life is to save up enough to put a CD player in his car, and Em (Kristen Stewart), who has a sweet smile to hide a lot of pain that goes on at home between her father and new stepmother, and the conflicted personal feelings she feels for both James and Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds), an older married man who works maintenance at the park. There's also Lisa P (Margarita Levieva), the park sexpot that all the guys lust after. Yes, we've seen all these characters before, but Mottola's screenplay treats them as people, not caricatures or cliches. We expect Lisa P to be the "bad girl", as she starts to become interested in James, pulling him away from Em. Funny thing, she does actually seem to care about him. All of the characters in the film start out as being predictable and we think we know where they will end up, but the movie keeps on digging deeper than we expect, and we find ourselves caring a lot more than we initially thought.

I was impressed not only with how Mottola handles his characters, but also how he settles the era it's set in. When a filmmaker does a retro piece, it's easy to get caught up in the vibe of the times and have it constantly be in the center of the gags, especially when you're dealing with a decade as infamously flamboyant and excessive as the 80s. Fortunately, this is not the case here. The references to the 80s are subtle, and it never hangs over the story the film is trying to tell. The story could work in any time, it's simply set in the time of the director's own youth. I also admired the use of songs from the era. They underscore the scenes perfectly, and some of the song choices are of songs I personally have not heard in years. Music is important in setting up the mood of a certain time and place, and Adventureland understands this.

I've mentioned that the characters are more honest and deeper than I expected, but I haven't said much about the two main characters at the center of the story, James and Em. As James, Jesse Eisenberg gives us a different kind of "nerd" type than we're used to. He's confident, he's witty, and he has a certain kind of deadpan sarcasm to him that seems to get him through his life and certainly this dead-end job. But the real stand out is Em, who gets our attachment not only because she is written as a smart young woman being pulled in different directions in her personal and romantic life, but also because of the wonderful performance from Kristen Stewart. After being disappointed by her turn in Twilight, here she reminds me once again what a promising young actress she is, and hopefully she can continue to find work outside of shallow, fluffy vampire romances. Her performance here shows a lot of range and promise.

Adventureland is not exactly a plot-driven movie, and it doesn't need to be. Mottola uses his characters as his way to hook us in, and then further involves us by making them easy to relate to. This is a quiet and funny movie that never takes a wrong step, nor does it betray itself with contrivances. It remains focused on these people who grab our attention, and never loses sight of them. Sometimes that's enough. Watching the movie, we may find that we know these people up there on the screen. Or maybe we find ourselves wishing that we did know them. That's the small, but powerful, effect this movie has.

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