Friday, April 3, 2009

Movie review: Adventureland

By Alex Bentley

If the era of Judd Apatow and his acolytes have proven anything, it's that R-rated comedies and heartfelt stories don't have to be mutually-exclusive ideas. Thus, it's no surprise to have the dramatic ups and downs of relationships butting up against streams of profanity and sexual situations, with the result more often than not feeling natural instead of forced.

Director Greg Mottola applied that methodology to 2007's Superbad, and continues the theme with Adventureland, a film set in the 1980s and loosely based on Mottola's experiences working at an amusement park. However, Adventureland surprises in how much the balance of drama and comedy is shifted toward the dramatic side. The majority of the film deals with the ups and downs of college-aged relationships in a much more straightforward and forthright manner than is expected.

Jesse Eisenberg plays James, a recent college grad with designs to go to law school at Columbia. However, his parents (Jack Gilpin and Wendie Malick) drop the unexpected bomb that his dad has been demoted and they can no longer afford to pay for his education. James scrambles to find a job at Adventureland, an amusement park that has definitely seen better days. The park is populated by a motley crew of employees, including managers Bobby and Paulette (SNL's Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig), the dour and nerdy Joel (Martin Starr), handyman Mike (Ryan Reynolds), and the comely-in-a-girl-next-door-kind-of-way Em (Kristen Stewart).

"You're interested in me? You do realize I'm a dork, right?"

James quickly sees the appeal of Em and pursues her, with Em seeming to give him all the requisite “go” signs. Unbeknownst to James, Em is also carrying on an affair with Mike, who just so happens to be married. Much to Mottola's credit, though, the film never deals with either situation in a jokey or crude way. Rather, the story is rooted more in nostalgia ('80s music and fashion are key players) and in exposing the truisms of how trying and confusing relationships at that age can be.

Eisenberg has been hanging around Hollywood for a decade or so, with his most high-profile roles coming in The Village and The Squid and the Whale. It's easy to think that he might have been cast as James to try for a breakout like Michael Cera had in Superbad, since they have similar low-key acting tendencies. Eisenberg does a good job, but doesn't quite pull off that feat. Unfortunately for him, Stewart is the one experiencing her day in the sun, coming off her starring role in Twilight. She's not spectacular here, but she does a solid job of selling the angst that Em is going through in wrestling with the idea of being with the one she wants (James) versus the one she can't quite give up (Mike).

Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig hamming it up.

The comedy, though dampened to a degree, is aided greatly by several players. Hader and Wiig have become the go-to SNL moonlighters, both continuing a string of scene-stealing performances here. Matt Bush comes off more as a jerk than anything else as James' wanna-be friend, Tommy Frigo, but he does get in a few good moments. But much of the humor comes from the random daily events at Adventureland, and how each employee handles the drudgery of such a lowly job, a theme to which most of us can relate.

Adventureland, despite containing more than its fair share of profanity, is probably the sweetest R-rated comedy you'll ever see, and it's all the better for it. Greg Mottola, wittingly or unwittingly, seems to be carving a subgenre all of his own.

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