Film Review: Adventureland (Spoilers)

Films which can’t easily be pigeon-holed tend to be either unwatchable or deceptively smart. ‘Adventureland’ without doubt falls into the latter camp. Written and directed by Greg Mottola, it’s an unusual (but good-natured) coming-of-age story, focusing on teen James (Jesse Eisenberg) and the people he meets when his European holiday and subsequent departure to college are knocked off course by his father’s unemployment. So far so ordinary, but this 1980s period piece has a great deal of charm, and a surprising amount of insight. James is awkwardness personified, yet he’s highly intelligent and not without an understanding of social graces. When forced to work at the neighbouring, run-down theme park Adventureland, he comes into contact with Em (Kristen Stewart) and a crowd of warm natured misfits. The beautiful Em is quietly rebellious, dealing with the loss of her mother and her father’s unpleasant remarriage; meeting the deeply honest James forces her to reevaluate her involvement with the world. James in turn finds himself trapped outside of the world he thought he wanted; the change his relationship brings calls into question how much responsiblity he’s prepared to take for his life.  But the romance which blossoms between the couple is undermined by her secret fling with carnival handyman and all-round hunk Ryan Reynolds. Does their relationship stand a chance? Will James ever get to Europe?

There are numerous conventions for coming-of-age films, most of which were tiresome even in my youth, and impressively Adventureland falls into few of them. You get the occasional dick joke, but hardly offensively, and every near-stereotype (Margarita Levieva’s Lisa P) is matched by a finely observed character like Martin Starr’s Joel. Sure the film would likely never have been made without Reynolds’ casting (and he does feel completely out of place), but he is entirely eclipsed by the clever, nuanced performances of Eisenberg and Stewart (who are both clearly going places). The easy chemistry between them adds a level of credibility to the film which it might not otherwise have had, but the world painted around them is painted so optimistically that even their possibly doomed relationship doesn’t matter terribly much; it’s a welcome touch for a genre normally dependent on the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ conceit. The absence of drama makes Adventureland a little slow to get off the ground, but when it finds its feet (and quirky humour) it captivates through its honesty (and sensitive ending). It’s not going to win any prizes for originality, but storytelling quite this good is hard to come by these days, as are characters quite this nice. Mottola’s implicit commentary on the 1980s is smart, witty and ultimately infectiously nostaligic.

7.5/10

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