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Web-Exclusive Review: Adventureland

Rob Ortenzi on 4/1/09 @ 10:45 AM

DRAMEDY
ADVENTURELAND (Miramax)
STARS > Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Matt Bush
DIRECTOR > Greg Mottola
RATING > 3/5
OPENS > APR 3

First things first: Anyone rolling into Adventureland expecting to see a raunchy, menstrual blood-soaked comedy in the vein of Superbad might be disappointed. Though Miramax is taking full PR advantage of the fact that the flick is writer/director Greg Mottola's follow-up to the 2007 mega-hit--and despite what the online red-band trailer might lead you to believe--Adventureland is more about relationships and, like, feelings than getting shitfaced and/or laid. Although there's plenty of both in Adventureland, and it's got about 30 percent more vomiting than Superbad, as well.

Based on Mottola's own real-life experiences and set in 1987 to a fully appropriate soundtrack (we officially never need to hear Falco's "Rock Me Amadeus" ever again), Adventureland follows fresh-faced college grad James Brennan (Eisenberg) on his decidedly unglamorous summer job at a local amusement park. Brennan takes the gig reluctantly to begin with; he'd been expecting to backpack across Europe with his best friend. Instead, he finds himself manning rigged carnival games, smoking weed and dodging barf while vying with the park's repairman (Reynolds) for the attention of fellow employee, Em (Stewart). Meanwhile, Brennan's scrotum-slapping pal Frigo (Bush) proves a constant and hilarious source of irritation as the park's bosses (SNL's Hader and Wiig, playing a married couple) try to regulate the whole rickety enterprise. The laughs are many, but Adventureland manages to keep a straight face through its underlying plot of young love and infidelity-an impressive feat for a movie in which the most memorable scenes involve piss, pot and corn dogs. --J. Bennett

Film Link: http://www.adventurelandthefilm.com/

Comments

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akissforboston Posted 04.01.09 at 01:56PM
Well, I'm still keeping my hopes up... I, myself, am a huge KStew fan, and I deffinately don't think she would have taken the part if it was going to be a worthless movie.

AP_Scott Posted 04.04.09 at 06:04PM
Saw this last night and thought it was great -- I recommend it to everyone!

bftdrummer Posted 04.07.09 at 03:58PM
Wasn't too impressed with the film, but it did have an amazing soundtrack.



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