SundanceReview in a Hurry: It's from the director of Superbad, but don't go into Adventureland expecting an Apatow-esque gross-out laughfest. This comedy about working at a run-down amusement park in the '80s has an undercurrent of tragedy that makes it feel more authentic than most others—especially in this economy. Oh, but look: Kristen Stewart!
The Bigger Picture: As the Reagan years end and the economic boom of the '80s starts turning to recession, high-school graduate James (Jesse Eisenberg) learns that his parents can no longer afford to send him to college in new York, and thus, he must earn some extra cash at the only local job which requires no experience...Adventureland!
Fortunately, with the aid of a bag of joints left to him by his yuppie best friend, Jesse quickly becomes Mr. Popular at the park despite his tendency to awkwardly bring up his virginity at every opportunity, and the pretentious way he drops the phrase per se into every statement.
Potential romance beckons in the form of cutie Em (Stewart), though her past—and the pot-induced affections of local It girl Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva) for Jesse—make any coupling far from a sure thing. Meanwhile, the exceedingly boring parents of all involved drink themselves into numbness.
Director Greg Mottola is closer in tone here to his earlier The Daytrippers than to Superbad. This may be promoted as a mainstream teen comedy, but it has the sort of underlying pathos you'd usually only see in an indie; these characters are living depressing lives and working dead-end jobs with little consolation but sex and weed. As day-job comedies go, it doesn't quite reach the heights of humor and perceptiveness as Rob McKittrick's Waiting..., which, like Adventureland, costarred Ryan Reynolds as a veteran B.S. artist who breaks in and disillusions the younger talent. But it does feel real and true, and the casting is superb, with relative unknowns like Levieva more than holding their own.
The 180—a Second Opinion: The ending, as is, was an inevitable choice, yet it feels phony and fantasy-based when compared to the very real troubles that have led up to it.