ScreenWize

Coming of age films are a dime a dozen, but you’d be hard pressed to find one that gets it quite a right as Greg Mottola does in his semi-autobiographical film Adventureland. Having just graduated college, James (Jesse Eisenberg) has his life mapped out, beginning with a summer backpacking around Europe, then a degree in journalism from Columbia to prepare him for a career writing travel prose that, Dickens or Orwell, unearths the world of the downtrodden classes. Yep, James is a bit of a pretentious pratt, but sweet and well-meaning. Poor James has the rug pulled out from under him when his father is demoted at work and his parents can no longer follow through on their promise to pay for it all, and he must get himself a dreaded job, however a degree in medieval history and romance languages has ill-prepared him for the real world (“I’m not even qualified for manual labour,” he laments).

Adventureland is the theme park James finds himself working in, but the life he had planned starts to lose relevance as he meets new friends, especially Emily (Kristen Stewart). Mottola is better known as the director of Superbad, but this film is a far more mature work, and not just in terms of its humour. His screenplay hits the right notes between irony and sentimentality, and though not laugh-a-minute, is full of warm small moments. Music by indie rock act Yo La Tengo supports these moments, as does a soundtrack that compliments the film’s 80s setting, including Crowded House to mark a new year’s celebration, a Lou Reed mix tape as a plot device, and with Falco’s Rock Me Amadeus playing ad nauseum in the theme park and giving James (and us) a pain in the eye.

Young leads Eisenberg and Stewart are terrific (she is Bella in Twilight, and it’s good to see her in a less whiny and insipid role), but the strength is in Mottola’s ensemble of supporting characters, including Wendie Malick as James’ mother, dishy Ryan Reynolds as the theme park’s resident pants man, and Saturday Night Live’s Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader as the park’s owners. While Adventureland has all the appeal of indie hits like Juno or Donnie Darko, I suspect it won’t be around long – I’d get in and see it while you can.

CK
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Filed Under: Reviews by Simon