Superbad director Greg Mottola’s latest film, Adventureland, premieres today, sending the message that we all need a little more adventure in our lives. For recent Oberlin grad James Brennan, his summer 1987 adventures don't quite come in the form that he expected When he’s told by his parents that they can no longer pay for his summer trip to Europe, James’ summer plans move from the meaningful exploration of ancient ruins to the meaningless manning of game booths at Adventureland, an amusement park near his native Pittsburgh. Even the park hiring process is disappointing, as the owner relegates James to games duty rather than his preferred rides, and ignores his resume, chock-full of academic accomplishments and college extracurriculars.
In between handing out stuffed animal prizes, learning how the carnival games are rigged, and cleaning up vomit, James acquires a Troubled Love Interest, Emily (Kristen Stuart, in all her pouty, hair-tousling, skinny-armed glory); a Geeky Friend, Joel (Martin Starr, wearing terrible glasses and toting Gogol); a Misleading Mentor, Connell (Ryan Reynolds, somewhat less annoying than usual); and even a Hot Love Interest, Lisa P. (some girl we’ve never heard of, looking like jailbait). A love quadrangle of sorts develops between James, his love interests, and his maintenance man mentor Connell, who’s secretly fooling around with Em, James’ true love (but would surely take the super-hot Lisa P. as a substitute, as James himself nearly does).
Adventureland is no Superbad, taking a more emotional than action-packed route toward its conclusion, and involving viewers more in the specific drama of the amusement park than the general troubles of adolescence. But there are plenty of laughs along the way, many of them stemming from Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as the amusement park owners. When not gluing googly eyes on stuffed bananas or frying up unrefrigerated corn dogs to serve to unsuspecting customers, chasing abusive customers out of the pack with baseball bats. That’s dedication.
Ultimately, the Adventureland crew becomes a close-knit family—dysfunctional, to be sure, but perhaps more functional that any of its members’ actual families. James’ extremely reticent father has turned to booze to relieve his discomfort about being demoted at work, Emily’s dad is married to a wig-wearing witch of a woman, and of course Connell is cheating on his wife with amusement park teens. There's little for any of these people to love at home, so it's understandable that they've turned to the park for some solace.
The film is flawed, to be sure. The characters act more like high schoolers than the college-age kids they're supposed to be, and it's hard to understand their motivations in some situations: Emily, while clearly troubled and insecure, seems like she'd be too smart to fall for Connell's falsehoods (the man claims to have "jammed with Lou Reed" but can't even recognize the VU frontman's songs), and James is infuriatingly awkward and hesitant at times. You sometimes want to give all the characters a kick in their Jordaches and say, "Just do something smart already!" But when the action starts, it's entertaining and endearing, and by the end, you'll truly care about the characters, perhaps even more than you did about Michael Cera and Jonah Hill in Superbad.
Adventureland is further enhanced by an excellent soundtrack, featuring Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, The Cure, and other faves as well as plenty of cheesy 80s tunes including "Rock Me Amadeus." The film functions as a fun throwback to simpler times and a crucial reminder that we all need adventure in our lives, even though it may not come in the form we expected.
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