Adventureland
by Greg Mottola
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, Kelsey Ford, Kristen Stewart, Michael Zegen, Ryan ReynoldsDirector: Greg Mottola
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Writer: Greg Mottola
Producer: Anne Carey
Producer: Bruce Toll
Producer: Declan Baldwin
Producer: Scott Ferguson
Producer: Sidney Kimmel
Producer: Ted Hope
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-08-25
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Miramax
Product features:
- From thedirector of SUPERBAD comes ADVENTURELAND, a smart, witty comedy we canall relate to. When James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) has to cancel hisdream summer vacation and make some money for grad school, the only jobhe can get is at Adventureland, a tacky amusement park where the gamesare rigged and the rides make you hurl. But it's where he meets Em(Kristen Stewart, TWILIGHT), and his rollercoa
Movie Reviews of Adventureland
Movie Review: Terribly Underrated, Coming-of-Age Story
Summary: 5 Stars
As you've no doubt heard, Adventureland was marketed as a teenage comedy in the vein of Superbad. Despite sharing the same director Greg Mottola (who also wrote this film), the two have little in common. In fact, Adventureland has more of a kinship with All the Real Girls than Superbad. This is not a sex comedy or a teen-drug movie (although it does have drug content). Adventureland is a coming-of-age story that is much better than that description seems to imply. If you're expecting a hilarious comedy, this is not the movie for you as much of it's humor is more amusing and subtle as opposed to hilarious.
The year is 1987 and James (Jesse Eisenberg) is planning a graduation trip to Europe before he begins attending grad school in New York City. However, when James' parents fail to come through with the money for his trip, he's forced to get a summer job in Pittsburgh at Adventureland. There, he meets Emily (Kirten Stewart), an intriguing, yet withdrawn girl who can't commit due to an ongoing affair with Adventureland's custodian Connell (Ryan Reynolds).
This weak synopsis I've provided sounds like a typical "summer love" story but Mottola's a much better writer than that. He creates real, fleshed-out characters and never resorts to character cliches to present them. These characters are confused, passionate, intelligent...They have depth; something rarely found in these kinds of movies. Look at the relationship between James and Emily for evidence of this. Their relationship is touching, heartfelt, and genuine; a rarity for almost any movie let alone a comedy.
The movie takes place in the 1980s, but this is simply a nostalgic background for a story that is not confined to any particular time period. There's a broad range of emotions on display here due to both clever writing and impressive performances.
The stand-out here is Kirsten Stewart, who has been appearing in movies since a young age but has only recently found fame with her role in the Twilight series. Stewart displays real acting chops here, capturing the tough, withdrawn nature of her character in a way not every young actress could. She's a charmer, but you can see her as the kind of girl that lets you in just enough to have less of a distance to push you out. Eisenberg perfectly embodies the opposite of her character in his performance as James, which would be easier to applaud if I had seen Eisenberg play a character different from this one. He seems very comfortable at this point playing characters filled with virginal angst.
Bill Hader, as Adventureland's manager Bobby, seems to serve as the character with the funniest bits. His periodical outburts at people who don't properly dispose of their trash at the park are hilarious. Shockingly enough, Ryan Reynolds turns in a straight-forward performance dropping the Van Wilder-shtick he's seemingly carried over into every film he's done since that one.
In short, Adventureland really surprised me. Movies of this sort with realistic, well-drawn characters are really becoming obsolete and Adventureland does almost everything right. It's not a masterpiece but I enjoyed it so much I can't even pick out it's flaws. For this genre, it's a really great movie. It's really sad that this film doesn't have a wider audience and it certainly deserves one. If you watch this with an open mind, not expecting 'Superbad Redux' I think you'll find Adventureland to be a diamond in the rough; amusing and surprising in so many different areas.
GRADE: A-
Summary of Adventureland
ADVENTURELAND - DVD MovieA sweet and slap-happy mix of indie coming-of-age drama and Judd Apatow?s scatological but heartfelt manchild comedies, Greg Mottola?s Adventureland is a winning look at the pleasures and frustrations of dead-end jobs and teenage kicks as viewed through a filter of mid-?80s pop culture. The underutilized and always watchable Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale) is a sheltered, introspective New York college grad who discovers that his parents? financial woes will not only quash his dream of a summer in Europe (to enjoy its more ?sexually permissive? nations) but require a move to Pittsburgh, where he lands a job at a dilapidated amusement park. There, he?s thrown in with a motley crew of eccentrics, small-town types and a few genuine free spirits, most notably co-worker Em (Kristen Stewart), whose complicated past proves irresistible to his repressed psyche. Mottola, who directed Superbad and episodes of the well-loved Freaks and Geeks, and who once worked in a similar park as a teen, doesn?t shy from the crude laughs that make Apatow?s features so popular, but he tempers it with a wistful tone and layered characters that hew closer to his earliest work, The Daytrippers. Though ill-matched at first, Eisenberg and Stewart make a likable on-screen couple, and they?re well-supported by a terrific cast that includes such die-hard scene-stealers as Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as the park?s offbeat owners, Martin Starr as a Russian lit aficionado, and Ryan Reynolds as a former town tamer, now reduced to working as the park?s handyman. A soundtrack performed by underground faves Yo La Tengo and filled with a smart mix of hip cuts (Hüsker Dü, the New York Dolls, the Replacements) and period faves (Falco?s ?Rock Me Amadeus?) underscores the film?s blend of tentative emotions and broad laughs. -- Paul Gaita
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