ADVENTURELAND

“ADVENTURELAND” (Jesse Eisenberg, Kristine Stewart & Ryan Reynolds)

Other than to say the trailer to this doesn’t exactly depict what the film is about - & is very misleading as to the type of movie it is, I don’t have a lot to say about “Adventureland”.
The bulk of the scenes do take place at a low-rent amusement park in Pittsburgh, but it isn’t a ‘goofy teenage romp’ about the young & dumb employees that work there. It has its moments of dumb/semi-retarded behavior; it does really heavily on the ‘wonders’ of smoking weed; but basically this is an innocent ‘puppy love’ story centering on Jesse Eisenberg & Kristen Stewart’s characters.
Jesse has just graduated from high school & discovers his parents aren’t going to be able to pay for his summer trip to Europe, or his tuition into college because his father has had a ‘setback’ at work – We never learn the details of this setback, just that dad seems to have a drink in his hand in every scene he’s in, no matter what time of day it happens to be. So Jesse needs a summer job & all he can find is a position in the ‘Games’ department at ‘Adventureland’. To quote Jesse’s buddy in ‘Games’: “We are doing the work of lazy morons.”
But when Jesse meets Kristen, suddenly ‘Adventureland’ turns into the opportunity of a lifetime – She’s very cute and appears to like him. It comes as no surprise when Jesse reveals his virginity status. Though attracted to Jesse, Kristen is having a secret affair with the amusement park’s married repairman, played by Ryan Reynolds. Ryan befriends Jesse and then reports to Kristen what he learns.
So ‘Adventureland’ is set in an atmosphere of a place where zany cornball antics take place on a daily basis, & yet, it actually leans more toward the sweet, coming of age story between 2 young adults seeking happiness while stuck in a situation that seems destined to end in heartbreak.
Mom & Dad, & the husband & wife team that manages ‘Adventureland’ didn’t bring much to the table for me – Bill Hader seemed to bring ‘too much’ wackiness to his role, while Kristen Wiig underscored hers by being too low-key. A lot of puking goes on as well, if you’re queasy at all about seeing multiple vomiting scenes, you may want to steer clear of ‘Adventureland’, but I liked it okay. It isn’t anything special, just a sweet little tale of a guy who falls in love before he gets laid for the first time. How awkward for the putz...