Greg Mottola's film, Adventureland, strives to be an entertaining, funny and heartfelt film about a recent college graduate who, through some miscalculations and bad luck, is forced to take a summer job working at a theme park, aptly named Adventureland. The film starts out a little slow, and many of the scenes that are featured in the trailer are placed together in the beginning. The audience gets a general sense of who the characters are and why the main character, James, must take this terrible job. The script, written by Motolla, is often sharp and funny, and the characters are believable, even though most are two-dimensional. For the majority of the film, it is runs from being funny to very funny, thanks to the antics of Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig, who partially steal the show. The rest of the Adventureland is serious and emotional. The tightrope between comedy and drama is a difficult one to walk and many of the dramatic scenes come off as forced. The director, Motolla manages to show the awkwardness of the main character to great effect. Unlike many teen comedies, the producers let the writer, who directed Superbad, take the helm. Motolla doesn't simply turn the camera on, but knows how to mine for laughter, and how to direct actors into giving realistic performances. From the direction to the cinematography to the editing, the film is well made. As with all films, it is the acting that ties the whole thing together. Kristen Stewart gives the best performance, balancing humor, sadness and anxiety well, and creating the deepest character in the film. Jesse Eisenberg gives a strong performance and is successful in making the audience forget that he is acting. The rest of the cast all gives good performances that make the film feel realistic. Yet the film cannot escape the fact that it is, in essence, a fantasy. For someone who apparently has so much trouble with relationships (he is still a virgin), awkwardly talking about classical novels and old girlfriends while on dates, he becomes involved with two beautiful girls that are obviously out of his reach. It's not like his character experiences no conflict, there's plenty to go around, but it all works out in the end. In terms of the plot, it is predictable and traverses the road most frequently traveled. He doesn't get exactly what he's looking for at the beginning of the film, but (surprise) what he finds as a result of his summer is what he really wanted all along. It is through what should've been the worst summer of his life that he finds the path his life is going to take. Adventureland manages to be a funny and entertaining, yet shallow, film that leaves you smiling, and at the same time wondering about the film's missed opportunities to be anything but forgettable. B
Review of Adventureland
