Adventureland (2009)

Genres

Comedy, Drama, Romance

Director

Greg Mottola

Country

USA

Cast

Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynold, Martin Starr, Matt Bush, Margarita Levieva, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Mary Birdsong, Josh Pais, Jack Gilpin, Wendie Malick

Storyline

In the summer of 1987, college graduate James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) takes a job at Adventureland, his local amusement park, where he meets and falls in love with a co-worker,  Emily (Kristen Stewart).

Opinion

Although I’ve recently come to appreciate her acting, I’m still not a fan of Kristen Stewart, and I still don’t like Jesse Eisenberg – actually, I’m starting to believe nobody does – which is why I’ve been putting off Adventureland forever. However, I read good things about it in last week’s Thursday Movie Picks and decided to watch it; I’m glad I did because it isn’t bad for a teen movie. 

Although there’s barely a plot, everything moves very slowly, there are most of the clichés of a coming-of-age and there’s no such a thing as a twist – so it’s pretty predictable -, the story is interesting to follow and quite enjoyable. The ending though, it didn’t really work for me.

Anyway, this is one of the few (maybe only) times when I did not find Jesse Eisenberg's character utterly annoying. Actually, he was very likeable. It’s probably because it’s easy to relate to his character, he’s decently written and the performance isn’t bad. Also, the character feels real. It’s the same with the other characters. They are not that developed, but they aren’t as shallow as I was expecting either.

The most enjoyable part, however, is the quirky and at times awkward humour. Although it’s nothing new, the cast delivers it nicely, especially Ryan Reynolds who once again blesses us all with his amazing sense of humour.