Genres

Visitors Review

B_D 2012-05-19 18:41:04

Boring and Cliché

I'm not the type of person to walk out of a movie - in fact, I've neverdone it - but Adventureland made it a challenge to stay in the theaterin a way that few films do.Let me preface this by saying that I hadn't seen any previews or heardmuch about Adventureland, so I wasn't expecting a Superbad-esquire romplike many other reviewers apparently did. I didn't know whether I wasgoing for a comedy, a drama, a coming-of-age flick, or what. I had anopen mind, willing to accept whatever I saw, and yet I was incrediblydisappointed and confused by the end of it.Adventureland suffers from having an incredibly cliché plot, thestandard awkward boy meets troubled girl fare that we've all seenhundreds of times before. From early on in the movie, I was able tofigure out exactly where it was going, and at no point was I thrown fora loop. Everything proceeds according to genre conventions. There isnothing new or unexpected here. Additionally, there is a strangefatalistic tone that pervades the movie that manages to be overlyserious and depressing without being at all deep.None of the main characters are in any way likable or believable. Alarge portion of the plot revolves around the difficulty that JesseEisenberg's character (James) has expressing his affection for KristenStewart's character (Em) and attempting to make the relationship work.I guess this was supposed to be a meaningful story about twomisunderstood college kids trying to reach out to each other andlooking for love in all the wrong place, blah blah blah. Instead, Jamescomes off as a boring, awkward guy who becomes infatuated with thefirst girl who gives him any attention; Em never rises above our firstimpression of her as a cookie-cutter troubled teen who keeps Jamesaround for his good weed connection. Because of this, I couldn't bringmyself to care about what happened to either of them.Too much of this movie seems to be an attempt by the forty-somethingdirector Greg Mottola to prove that he can still seem cool to today'syouth. The characters are constantly smoking weed (okay, we get it,they're cool, introspective kids!) and dropping stereotypical lines tobring attention to it: "This is some GREAT WEED James" or "Man I am SOHIGH." For some reason this is set in the 1980s, I guess for some sortof faux-cool retro feeling, or maybe just so people can namedrop LouReed every ten seconds. Unfortunately, the setting was terriblyexecuted: half of the characters are wearing trendy American Apparelfashion, and Yo La Tengo's recognizably modern score is jarring whenjuxtaposed with famous 80's tunes.Overall, Adventureland fails on almost every level. The comedy?Terrible. The drama? Played out. The characters? Boring. The acting?Meh. The setting? Poorly executed. Avoid this movie, I don't know howit is getting such good reviews.

MannyCastro 2012-05-19 07:12:27

It's an amusement!

Don't waste your money on Fast & Furious. This is a more rewardingmovie.Jesse Eisenberg stars as James Brennan, a young man in 1987 who mustspend the summer working at a carnival (run by scene stealers BillHader and Kristen Wiig) in order to pay for graduate school. He hatesit at first but overtime makes friends and falls in love with a girlwho saves him from being stabbed over a stuffed animal. That girl issimply known as Em and is played by Twilight's Kristen Stewart. Theydate but it isn't serious. Em is a complicated girl. Her home life is amess and she's having an affair with a married man. That makes itdifficult to form a committed relationship. And, it affects James' lifeas her lies and mixed signals force him to make decisions that he mayor may not regret by the end of summer.Director Greg Mottola, whose previous movie was Superbad, once againmanages to make a movie that speaks to young people. He could be thisgeneration's John Hughes if he wanted to. In Superbad he explored thelives of high school kids who wanted to have sex. Here he explores thenext stage, falling in love and entering the work force. The differencebetween the two movies is that this one isn't over-the-top. Superbadfeatures a lot of stuff that would never happen in real life. InAdventureland everything is possible and chances are...it happened toyou.

Velanida Carriazo 2012-05-11 18:33:11

An OK Romantic Comedy

First of all it's very IMPORTANT that anyone who goes to watch thismovie does not expect a movie like "Superbad" (whether you where misledor not, its become obvious many people are disappointed).Adventureland is a romantic comedy, with much more romance than comedy.Granted the movie has very funny, moving and cute moments it's nothingspecial. It does capture a certain level of authenticity that Iappreciated very much, as well as good performances by most of thecast. It does have certain parts that are unnecessarily long andrepetitive.The love story between James and Em evolves in a theme park where theyare moth working over the summer. They face up and downs, drunkennights, parties, a lot of pot followed by a broken heart and finally ahappy ending. (This is hardly a spoiler as it's a predictable story).All this happens while they "grow –up and learn about life".Overall I had a "Good time watching it" but it's one of those movies Iwill probably never watch again.

Twins65 2012-05-11 02:50:20

Nice film...GREAT SOUNDTRACK!

Good effort all around. A nicely understated movie, decent story andacting, along with some great musical gems throughout.Replacements, Dolls, Velvets, & The Huskers on the soundtrack insteadof the usual Bon Jovi, Journey and Survivor crap which usually comewith 80's period pieces helped out a bunch.Nice job Mr. Mottola. The laughs weren't plentiful, but they weren'tforced either.And Martin Starr seems to have taken his Bill Haverchuck character fromFREAKS AND GEEKS (set in 1980) and graduated to an overeducated 1987carny, to full comic effect.My only quibble was with the Foreigner cover band in the bar scene.While the bombastic portrayal was funny, that band had pretty muchdropped off the commercial landscape by the late 80's, and I reallydoubt any bar would be featuring a such an outfit in '87.Still, I'm recommending ADVENTURELAND.

einarleif 2012-05-10 23:17:43

Can't say this is a bad film just boring

I went to the cinema tonight expecting a good comedy and instead got aromantic comedy that wasn't very funny. It had it's chuckle moments butno laugh out loud funny. Well here in Iceland we have intermission some and my friend walked out, therefore I missed the second half. This is by no means a bad movie. It has a solid soundtrack, OK actingand the direction seemed fine. But I just thought it was boring, justnot for me. maybe it was because I was expecting a different kind ofmovie who knows.If your in the mood for a good romance movie I'd say sure give it a go,but it is not a great comedy like Superbad.

Kristine 2012-05-10 12:23:04

The place where you will never win a giant-ass panda, come to Adventureland!

Ever have that summer where you had the worst job in the world, butsomehow the best time of your life? Welcome to Adventureland as we gothrough this journey with James. I had heard little good things aboutthis movie last year, so I caught the movie on Showtime and decided tocheck it out. Greg Mottola who also wrote Superbad wrote this moviebased on some personal experiences of his. He is starting to remind mea little of John Hughes, Superbad was his Sixteen Candles and nowAdventureland is his Pretty in Pink. Greg did a great job creating thischarming coming of age story that a lot of us can relate too. The wholesetting was also awesome, with a lot of teenage films we get a lot oftechnology that seems so out of place to me in the hands of such youngadolescents. In the 1980's, it was about partying and just living yourlife instead of being on the computer or watching TV. The only slightflaw with this was that it seemed like they had to have somestereotypes to remind us constantly that we were in the 80's, if youtake a look at our world while we have some trendy people around us,it's not that common to meet several at the same time unless you're inLA or New York. But it's a minor complaint with this great story.In the summer of 1987 James has just graduated college. He is lookingforward to touring Europe for the summer and going to graduate schoolwith a Masters Degree in journalism when his parents tell him theywon't be able to help him financially. James looks for summer jobs, butcan only find one, at Adventureland, a local amusement park where hischildhood friend Frigo works. James is hired immediately by theassistant manager, Bobby, and is assigned to the games area. He meetssome of his co-workers: Joel, Paulette, Lisa P., and the park's repairstechnician Mike Connell. James meets another games worker, Emily, aftershe saves him from being stabbed by a disgruntled customer. She laterinvites him to a party at her house. The following day, James tellsConnell about his strong feelings for Em, which Connell tells Emily.Wanting to take things slow, James goes out with Lisa P. But almost ina competition that he's not aware of with Mike Connell who is sleepingwith Emily, he must make a decision during this summer wither it's timeto grow up or not.I really liked how Adventureland had dimensional characters, normallywith a romance story, it's so simple and unrealistic. As for our twoleads, Kristen and Jesse, not so strong actors but their chemistryworked enough to where they are very watchable on screen. One of thethings I appreciated was that Ryan Reynold's character, he's a jerk whocheats on his wife, but he's also made to be very human, he's a likablepersonality, he's just doing jerk things. But it's Bill Hader who onceagain in the movies manages to steal the scenes that he's in as James'boss, Bobby. Bill is just a great comedic actor with awesome timing, hereminds me of Dan Aykroyd, looks and personality and I think he's goingto go much farther in his career. Adventureland has the making to be aclassic down the line, it has a lot of charm and class that the teenagemovies of the 80's had as well, not treating the teenagers as immaturekids but young adults who are coming of age. I would recommend thismovie, it's a little gem that I'm glad I had the pleasure of watching.8/10

Dan C 2012-05-10 02:20:24

Adventureland: A true, unbridled adventure through late-80's America

Alright, so...do yourself a favor if you really want a feel-goodmindset after sitting through this film for a couple hours.Its really good! Personally, I wanted to watch this film after I foundout that Kristen Stewart played a key role in it. I'll admit that mygirlfriend got me into the whole Twilight "craze", and after seeing themovie, I desperately wanted to see Kristen play another role, asrecently as possible. Curtain's up on ADVENTURELAND! So at first, whenI was watching the movie, I made all of these comparisons to how sheacted in Twilight, and of course how she acted in Adventureland. Herstyle of engaging the audience in her airy style of conservatism waspresent in both films...but the role she played was VASTLY different, aliteral 'opposite-end-of-the-spectrum'.I gave up comparisons between the two movies about 20 minutes in,because you see...I was completely wrapped up in the storyline ofAdventureland. I just settled into my nice comfy, reclining theaterseat and enjoyed the rest of the movie.It tells the basic story of new experiences, finding oneself, and ofcourse...the timeless tale of falling in love. The movie itself isquite comically entertaining at times, but was overwhelmingly aromantic drama. The attempt at mixing the two is the epitome of thelate-teen, early twenties youth mindsets throughout the world...eventoday.All in all, I'd completely recommend going to see this movie. Just doyourself a favor when you go: don't hold the movie up to any otherstandards, just sit back and enjoy it for what it is: an'against-the-odds' love story.Cheers.

phd_travel 2012-05-09 18:09:22

Likable cast and refreshing story

This is a realistic yet entertaining romantic dramedy. The charactersare all likable and their flaws and weaknesses are human. No one isunpleasant to watch. The ending is satisfying. It's not a teen comedy -it's for slightly more emotionally mature audiences. There are alsogood amounts of humor throughout as well. Jesse does a good job - he is not annoying unlike some of the geekyanti heroes of today. Kristen is complex and attractive in a very downto earth way. Supporting cast are amusing too from the parents to MattBush to Ryan Reynolds. Liked this more than 500 Days of Summer which was a little depressing.There is a lesson to be learnt - that although people aren't perfectbut things can still work out.

jotix100 2012-04-30 21:34:07

The virgin nerd

James Brennan's prospect for an European trip gets derailed as thisstory begins. The senior Brennan has been demoted to a lower positionthat does not pay what the former job did. James, who had set his eyesin moving to New York after the vacation in order to attend ColumbiaUniversity, sees his dreams come crashing down when he has to stay inPittsburgh for the summer.Having no prospects for a decent paying job, he applies at a suburbanamusement park that has seen better days. James position as anattendant in one of the games' booth is explained to him by the ownerof the park, Bobby, who warns him about a rule James must keep in mind:no one wins the big assed Panda. The other attendants he meets atAdventureland are kids like himself trying to save some money forcollege. His co-workers are a motley crew.James is attracted to Em, a strange girl who sticks out from the restbecause of her direct way of speaking her mind. Em carries a big secretwithin her; she has been having an affair with a mechanic from the parkwho happens to be married. James has no clue about what is going on,but he is definitely experiencing love, perhaps for the first time.Being a virgin, James does not know how to channel what he feels forEm, or how to make the move that will make her care for him."Adventureland" is about the third feature directed by the immenselytalented Greg Mattola, whose "The Daytrippers" and "Superbad" proved heis a new voice in the American cinema. Mr. Mottola, who also wrote thescreenplay was blessed by the young cast he assembled to give life tohis vision. The film is a coming of age account about a young man at adifficult time of his life. The director works in subtle ways and thepeople that populate the comedy feel real.Jesse Eisenberg, has made a career out of playing the kind of likablenerd one has known at one point, or another. Kristen Stewart is anotherdelight in the film. Her Em is nuanced and shows great signs ofintelligence. Ryan Reynolds, always reliable to give a goodperformance, turns up as Connell, a former guitarist, now working as amechanic in the amusement park, a legend who cheats on his wife, andwhose life is a mess. Others in supporting roles include Kristen Wiig,Bill Hader, Martin Starr, Wendie Mallick, Jack Gilpin, among others.A surprisingly entertaining film thanks to Greg Mottola.

franksherman 2012-04-30 10:28:07

Like a bad John Hughes movie

OK, wow, talk about a let down. This movie went into the whole lateteen first time you learn about love,life and finding yourself. Likesome kind of 80's right of passage.The reason the movie fails though is that it really is not very funnyat all.And you know I as a teen rarely had problems with way to many extremelyhot girls wanting to bang me. Problems I would have liked to have. Theentire plot line is how one summer and one opportunity can change yourlife a long with your future.Anyway go watch the Great Outdoors.

Jeff Heimbrock 2012-04-29 11:14:30

Adventureland With Nostalgia and Heart, But Not Much Chemistry

A rip off an 80's teen comedy, that kind of throws in the 80's simplyfor nostalgia's sake. I enjoyed the premise, and found it to betypically cliché at times, with some really nice moments here andthere. It's the usual story of kids struggling to make money andstruggling to make love, with James (Jesse Eisenberg) getting a job ata theme park and falling for Em (Kristen Stewart), a fellow employee.Conflict comes when they both get involved with other people and losesight of what they could have had with each other. You can guess theending. It's got some funny moments, and the performances certainlystand above general teen comedies. There's no chemistry, however, andthrows in a bunch of characters without much payoff for any of them.The film introduces a lot of conflicts but doesn't feel that it needsto pay them much attention either, with family dynamics and friendshiptroubles hinted at, but never really explored. I like the direction itwas trying to take, I'm just not sure screenwriter-director GregMottola could steer it all the way. SNL vets Kristin Wiig and BillHader were a highlight though, as usual, but sadly their time on screenwas about the only time that I felt the comedy. C+

sfride67 2012-04-29 01:45:51

In the 80s, dudes in BMWs, not Dusters, got the babes.

I thought the premise of this was fun--college-age employees making thebest of their lame jobs at an aging amusement park. And there was a bitof that in this movie and it was funny and reminiscent of that kind ofwork--the kind that builds character, or whatever. But what reallydragged this movie down for me was all the drama over the relationshipsin the life of Kristin Stewart's character. She hated her father fordating a woman she hated. Well, so what, move on, girl. Parents arefree to choose their partners and children don't really get a vote inthe matter, no matter the age or maturity of the children at the timeof the parent's selection. And then, and remember this was supposed tothe Eighties when people of that age revered all things YUPPIE, hercharacter was sleeping with a guy who drove a DUSTER. Did any collegebabe in the Eighties do that? Maybe, but it took more imagination forme to believe that than it did for me to accept that young Captain Kirkcould be exiled to the frozen tundra of nearest planet and convenientlyland within walking distance to Spock's cave in that Star Trek movie.And the irony is that if they movie had been topical, not based in '87,it would have been understandable why she gravitated toward a dude witha Duster. Now it is a vintage muscle car and probably a chick magnet.

mccurdy444 2012-04-28 14:15:58

How did they screw this up?

Seriously- it was set in an AMUSEMENT PARK! How in the name of all thatis holy can they take a great setting like an amusement park and end upwith such a slow, lame, awful movie? I was ready for a comedy but wouldhave accepted a dramatic love story. Instead, I sat through nearly twohours of really painful cinema. The writing was poor, the plotpredictable, and it hurt to watch it. There was very little characterdevelopment and very little was believable. This movie had no idea whatit wanted to be and just wandered all over the place, but at least itwas excruciatingly slow. Let's see- confused kids, obligatory scene ofprejudice (anti-semitism, which is always popular with Hollywood),adultery and lots of alcohol and drugs. It was like watching someonerun through a checklist.My wife has vowed never to allow me to choose our movie again becauseof this and I can't even argue with her.The only think I am thankfulfor is that I saw it on TV and only paid $5.99 instead of $30 at atheater.

nama chakravorty 2012-04-28 01:03:08

A drawback...

Greg Mottola made the classic hit 'Superbad', which was a winner fromall sides. The talented writer-director, however disappoints with hislatest outing called 'Adventureland'.Reason: The writer is just not in form this time around, and even thedirector takes a leap back. The film has no graph, and a cliché script,with loop holes throughout. The idea isn't exciting, and the execution,the less said the better. Apart from a few scenes and decentperformances nothing works in this venture.Performances: Jesse Eisenberg puts up a sincere act, but his characteris a yawn. Kristen Stewart is good. Ryan Reynolds is wasted in aapology of a role. Martin Starr tries hard. Others are adequate.On the whole 'Adventureland' just doesn't work.

abruptlyperfectowl 2012-04-26 14:01:36

7/10

I went into this movie last minute with a friend of mine. A couple offolks I talked to had disliked this movie and a couple enjoyed it so Ifigured I would just have to wait and see for myself. I had previouslyenjoyed Superbad but it's not my favorite so for those of you out therereading this, the above statement should provide some more context.In short, this is a very enjoyable movie that is quite funny at timeswith some very good drama mixed into it. It has a consistent tone andthe entire flick does a good job of capturing the types of experiencesthat all people have faced during their dead end summer job years.No real complaints here. I did not rate it higher because while I didtruly enjoy it, it did not really leave me wanting more. It did notreally leave me with any feeling other than, "yeah, that type of stuffhappened to me, but it's all in the past now".7/10 for being a very true movie.

ledfloyd0906 2012-04-25 21:45:58

It is a Shame

It is a shame this movie was poorly advertised. Personally I feel thatit is the best film in the past two years. Yes I know there is The DarkKnight, Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler, and now Star Trek, but Ihaven't liked a film as much as I do with Adventureland since AlmostFamous. Adventureland is more of a coming of the age of movie than acomedy if that makes any sense. I just wish this was advertised betterbecause this is a movie I could watch over and over again. It's funnyand realistic. I know it is a bit depressing at some parts but thathelps make the film better I think because you really feel bad forMartin Starr when he is rejected by the red head. You also care a lotabout when Eisenberg (Don't know if I spelled that right) finds outabout Em near the end. This is not your average movie. You don't comeacross a movie like Adventureland every year. The ending was amazing,Bill Hader has NEVER been as funny as he is in Adventureland in anyother film/TV Show, and Mottola really showed me that he is one of thebest in the business right now. I look forward to his future films andwish that he advertise them better, and that he not put them on thesame day as a film such as Fast and Furious (which is atrocious).

jonnygs 2012-04-23 21:18:46

Adventureland

Greg Mottola's film, Adventureland, strives to be an entertaining,funny and heartfelt film about a recent college graduate who, throughsome miscalculations and bad luck, is forced to take a summer jobworking at a theme park, aptly named Adventureland. The film starts outa little slow, and many of the scenes that are featured in the trailerare placed together in the beginning. The audience gets a general senseof who the characters are and why the main character, James, must takethis terrible job. The script, written by Motolla, is often sharp andfunny, and the characters are believable, even though most aretwo-dimensional. For the majority of the film, it is runs from beingfunny to very funny, thanks to the antics of Bill Hader and KristinWiig, who partially steal the show. The rest of the Adventureland isserious and emotional. The tightrope between comedy and drama is adifficult one to walk and many of the dramatic scenes come off asforced. The director, Motolla manages to show the awkwardness of themain character to great effect. Unlike many teen comedies, theproducers let the writer, who directed Superbad, take the helm. Motolladoesn't simply turn the camera on, but knows how to mine for laughter,and how to direct actors into giving realistic performances. From thedirection 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, sadnessand anxiety well, and creating the deepest character in the film. JesseEisenberg gives a strong performance and is successful in making theaudience forget that he is acting. The rest of the cast all gives goodperformances that make the film feel realistic. Yet the film cannotescape the fact that it is, in essence, a fantasy. For someone whoapparently has so much trouble with relationships (he is still avirgin), awkwardly talking about classical novels and old girlfriendswhile on dates, he becomes involved with two beautiful girls that areobviously out of his reach. It's not like his character experiences noconflict, 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 mostfrequently traveled. He doesn't get exactly what he's looking for atthe beginning of the film, but (surprise) what he finds as a result ofhis summer is what he really wanted all along. It is through whatshould've been the worst summer of his life that he finds the path hislife is going to take. Adventureland manages to be a funny andentertaining, yet shallow, film that leaves you smiling, and at thesame time wondering about the film's missed opportunities to beanything but forgettable. B

Wouldinya 2012-04-23 07:51:59

Great f+ing date movie

After reading the negative reviews of this movie from Yahoo! users, it's clear that an IQ test should be administered before allowing just anyone to review a movie."Adventureland" is not "Superbad." It is not a wacky comedy. It is a very realistic look at romance among adults in their early 20s. For those of us who grew up in the 1980s, it takes us back, visually and through the music, to a magical time when our gonads were break-dancing and the mysteries, miseries and joys of life were brand new.I have actually seen the film twice. The second time I took a woman who barely speaks English. Didn't matter. After the movie she was smiling and said the film made her feel "very warm." I won't say much else, other than, if you want to take a date to a nice romantic film, THIS IS IT.Nevermind the idiots who are upset because the film is not a sequal or imitation of "Superbad."

southwest3210-156-400970 2012-04-21 23:09:37

"HEY!!! In the CLOWN"S mouth!" LOL!!!

My God, one of the classic "coming of age" movies! I'm 49, and longpast the period when these types of movies should have any resonance,and I loved it. I would rank this right up there with "Risky Business"as a cinema right of male passage moment, though this one has a femaleone as well with "Em", the "Twilight" gal co-lead here. This one isperfect..not almost...the only bone I can possibly pick here is thatboth leads do not look or act as if they were well into their collegeyears...Jesse Eisenberg looks and acts more like he is graduating highschool, not winding up a 4-year degree as seen here. Same with "Em",who is attending NYU but looks and acts 16 here...would a 19-20ishwoman still be fighting with her parents and acting out morose attemptsat independence? I would think that one year at college would haveburnt out all that, yet she fights her mother like a bitter 15-year-oldin a "I hate you!" mode.So, other than not setting both leads at an age they look and act likehere, the movie is simply classic. Funny without being too silly, anddramatic without being too sentimental. A true masterpiece. As coming of age movies go, this would have to be near the top. And fewmovies since "Dazed and Confused" have captured the old era of the 70'sand 80's, or used its music, so effectively....superb movie!

george.schmidt 2012-04-21 15:42:42

One of the year's best comedies; does for summer jobs what CADDYSHACK did for golf courses.

ADVENTURELAND (2009) ***1/2 Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, MartinStarr, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Jack Gilpin, Wendie Malick, RyanReynolds, Paige Howard, Margarita Levieva. Funny and at timeshit-the-nail-on-the-head accurate look at teens circa 1987 withEisenberg as a college grad looking to make some extra cash for aEuropean vacation by working at the titular amusement park inPittsburg, PA where he gets some life lessons and falls in love withno-nonsense yet troubled Stewart and in the process having a lot of funamidst the misery of the soul-crushing reality of a truly suckyseasonal gig. Filmmaker Greg Mottola's authenticity is downrightuncanny in the pangs of adolescence and young adulthood's strangleholdsimpinged by society; does for summer jobs what CADDYSHACK did for golfcourses. One of the year's best comedies.