Adventureland: Movie Review (2009)

Written and directed by Greg Mottola, 107 minutes, rated R.

The new Greg Mottola movie, “Adventureland,” is one of the best, most satisfying teen-oriented coming-of-age comedies to come along in awhile. It’s an authentic film filled with small details that are so nicely captured, they create a satisfying whole.

The movie serves two demographics--those who grew up in their early twenties during the late 1980s and fondly remember all the possibilities of that time (even if you weren’t aware of those possibilities at the time), and those present-day twentysomethings who just now are finding that out.

Mottola based the movie on his own script, and what he has mined from it is a film of surprising restraint--at least when it comes to the affections that bloom between its main characters, James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) and Em (Kristen Stewart), who find themselves slumming through bum summer jobs at a Pittsburgh theme park called Adventureland during the summer of 1987.

Each are between college--Em soon will be back at NYU and James plans to attend graduate school at Columbia. Beyond that, what they have in common is a quick, understated wit that suggests a fine pairing is at hand if only they can work things out.

In this movie, it’s the supporting characters who provide the antics and the energy, which is a shrewd move on Mottola’s part because it allows James and Em to generate something real during the brief time we spend with them onscreen. Though their romance is budding, each is being pulled in different directions--Em by the married mechanic (Ryan Reynolds) she’s having an affair with, and James by the vivacious Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva, perfect), who recalls any number of second-rate backup dancers for Prince but who nevertheless is coveted by every young man working at the park.

Some will argue that the movie is too slight to be significant and that its characters don’t possess enough depth to be interesting, but they’re missing the point.

“Adventureland” is a slice-of-life vignette designed to offer only a glimpse into something deeper. We enter into it on the verge of one memorable summer, we observe what transpires within those few months, and then we leave the characters on the cusp of change in what you sense will be a more profound story that will play offscreen.

Mottola’s movie has sweetness and relevancy. It’s a movie that understands its characters and their generation, it refuses to condescend to either, and so it just goes along with both, following James, Em and company through the highs and lows of one of those eventful summers you somehow get through, and tend to remember with fondness long after it has passed.

Grade: B+

View the R-rated trailer for "Adventureland" here: