Adventureland (2009) dir, Greg Mottola
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Bill Hader, Kristin Wiig

**1/2

As for nostalgic coming-of-age films “Adventureland” sits above the pretentious ‘Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist’ and below the joyously rambunctious ‘Superbad’ and way below the true classics ‘Dazed and Confused’ and ‘American Graffiti.’ Perhaps it isn’t fair to compare these films, but with such similar and familiar territory it's inevitable. 

Jesse Eisenberg plays awkward geek Columbia student James Brennon, anticipating his summer trip to Europe to soak up all the romance and sophistication he desires. But when his parents tell him they’re short on cash and he’s forced to work at the local Pittsburgh amusement park his life comes crashing down. The overachieving James watches the slacker carny characters with an air of intellectual superiority. But when he meets another brooding teenager, Em (Kristin Stewart) who seems as disaffected by her job as is he, he’s instantly smitten. They start hanging out and soon become a couple.

Little does James know that Em is friends-with-benefits with the arrogant and passive aggressive theme park hunk Mike (Ryan Reynolds). With another hotter gal tempting James, his choices become more difficult. Oh the complications of youth. As Em and James get closer, the bigger Em’s lie gets. And the bigger the lie, the sadder the break-up when the truth comes to light. 

Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig – comic relief for rent du jour – play the pathetic gung-ho managers of the park. Their appearances are staggered at specific points throughout the film like those stand-up comedians warming up a crowd before it gets dull. The fact is despite the trailer marketing “Adventureland” is barely a comedy. 

The film is set in the 80’s, for no particularly reason except, because likely it was based on writer Mottola’s personal experiences. Other than the hip anti-pop period music, the film is invisible to the era.

Kristin Stewart’s character is a wet blanket most of the time – barely smiling even when she’s at the height of her romantic bliss with James. We can only sense her self-loathing for cheating with Mike. If we truly sympathized with Em’s predicament we would understand Em’s demeanour. Unfortunately the dosmetic squabbles with her parents, which appear to be the basis of her discontent, never really link up with her actions.

As our hero, Jesse Eisenberg comes off an obvious second-tier Michael Cera – copping his shy awkward geek-chic cuteness. At first this was distracting, knowing the film was directed by Cera’s “Superbad” director Greg Mottola, but gradually as the film moves along Eisenberg respectfully earns the role for himself. And thus, despite the familiarity, "Adventureland" managed to wriggle under my skin.

Adventureland | Movie Trailers

Superbad (2007) dir. Greg Mattola
Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Seth Rogan, Bill Hader

***1/2

“Superbad” is one of the most entertaining films of the year. I was worried the best parts were in the trailer, which I saw at least a dozen times over the past 4 months of hype. But the film is R-rated enough to show us only the PG parts and save us the raunchy and funnier bits for the theatre. “Superbad” isn’t original, in fact, it’s another of the ‘one-night-in-the-life-of-high-schoolers-trying-to-get-laid’ genre. It treads on “American Pie” material, but without the sappy fromage which plagued that franchise. “Superbad” is indeed bonafide badass.

Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are prototypical teenagers, and even though they’re about to graduate, they’re still negotiating their way through the social challenges of high schooldom. Their plans are Machiavellian. They know they’re going to get laid in University, therefore they need girlfriends for the summer so they can actually be good at it by that time. This opportunity presents itself in the form of a big party held by Jules - a Tier 1 social strata babe. Their plan is to use the new fake ID of their nerdy friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) to buy liquor for the party. This would ingratiate them with the cool kids and hopefully get them girlfriends for the summer.

Things don’t as planned when Fogell comes back with a Hawaiian driver’s license named “McLovin”. After much arguing Fogell grows a pair, buys the booze, and is just about the leave when a perp knocks him out while robbing the store. He wakes up in the care of the police, who then take him on a wild debaucherous diversion. Meanwhile, Seth and Evan’s plan B has them crashing another house party and stealing their booze. The story moves at a quick pace as the night takes the trio of losers from one outrageous situation to another.

The film has a lot going for it - strong and genuinely funny comedic writing to start. The situations aren’t necessarily original, in fact, it’s a combination of “American Graffiti”, “Animal House”, “Porky’s” “Dazed and Confused” and “American Pie”, but writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg inject a healthy dose of “I’ve been there” reality.

Casting is top notch. Hill and Cera are completely opposite in personality but compliment each other like a classic comedic duo – think of the personality dynamic of Abbot and Costello or the Smothers Brothers or Martin and Lewis. Seth does most of the talking, shouting and complaining, Evan is content to go with the flow. The film really gets moving when Fogell meets the childishly irresponsible cop duo, Slater and Michaels (played Seth Rogan and Bill Hader, who, I’m convinced are minor comic geniuses). They take idiocy to another level.

The discovery is Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who is transformed from the wirey Fogell into the party legend McLovin’. His best scene is when he’s roped into his inspiring booty shaking dance with a party hottie. The best moment for Seth is the confession of his childhood habit for drawing highly detailed sketches of cocks. This has added humour for me because of a good friend of mine who had a penchant to tagging public places with similar sketches.

For several reasons, “Superbad” trumps all other similar films of its genre– specifically “American Pie”, which this will ultimately be compared to. The “American Pie” series was always plagued with sappy cheeseball character arcs that undermined all of the film’s raunchiness. “Superbad” does have characters that change and grow but they remain badass losers to the very end. As well, “Superbad” is cast with likeable and lovable leads. “American Pie” was cast with good looking but ultimate cardboard actors with no personality. And thirdly, I doubt we will ever see “Superbad 4 – Band Camp”.

“Superbad” is one of those movies that condenses everything that is fun about high school and distills out all the crap. It works best because, like “Knocked Up”, the filmmakers keep it real and honest and relatable. Especially for the guys, I think we all, in some form or another, were Seth, Evan or McLovin’. Enjoy.