Pitched as a wacky comedy for its
theatrical run, Adventureland actually has very few
laughs—perfectly fine in a sensitive, well-wrought coming-of-age
story, which is what it actually is. This film has all the heart and
insight erroneously attributed to Mottolla’s first film,
Superbad. James (Jesse Eisenberg) is a newly graduated (class of
’86) lit student headed for Columbia in New York when a family crisis
forces him to get a job at the local amusement park (run with a witty
mix of comfort and rage by SNL vets Kristen Wiig and Bill
Hader). There he falls in love with Em (Kristen Stewart), whom he
doesn’t know is sleeping with the married park mechanic (Ryan
Reynolds). Eisenberg replaces his Squid and the Whale arrogance
with a gawky, endearing self-awareness and Stewart shows why, if
Twilight doesn’t ruin her, she could become one of our
best—there’s a depth in her missing from most starlets, a confidence
underscored by a touching vulnerability. Wistful and nostalgic,
hard-hearted and soft-shoed, Adventureland ranks with All the
Real Girls and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist as one of
the loveliest movies about young love there is.
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2009.
