Don't be duped: Just because Adventureland is "from the director of Superbad" doesn't mean there's more McLovin to be had.
Truth is, for those primed for yet another round of teen-sex rowdiness, this coming-of-age flick may feel like a mystifying case of nerd-and-switch.
Sure, there's pot, snark and bouts of near-adulthood anxiety aplenty, but there's also a disquieting gravity that pervades this tender, well-observed study of young stagnated lives.
For some, it will feel like a rollercoaster ride to snoresville.
But for me, it rang pitch-perfect: Poignant and honest, with such a keenly felt eye toward period detail -- the movie has both feet planted in 1987 -- that younger audiences may be as baffled by its soundtrack (highlights include Falco's Rock Me, Amadeus) as by its measured, melancholy vibe.
If anything, director Greg Mottola appears more inspired here by John Hughes (director of Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club) than mentor Judd Apatow.
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Based loosely by his own time toiling at a theme park, Mottola casts Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale) as James, a pensive cash-strapped college graduate living with his parents and forced to take a summer job at a dog-eared Pennsylvania amusement park operated by ditsy couple Bobby and Paulette (Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig).
It doesn't take long -- seconds, in fact -- for the virginal James to tumble head-long in lust for sexy-cool arcade chick Em Lewin (Twilight's Kristen Stewart).
No wonder: she's introspective, prickly and damaged.
She's also, although he doesn't know it, involved with the park's married but developmentally arrested mechanic (Ryan Reynolds) who, local legend has it, once jammed on stage with Lou Reed.
Both leads are superlative.
Gawky Eisenberg manages to convey the intellect and mirth behind his habitual awkwardness.
Registering with equal wit and depth is Stewart -- better served by go-nowhere misfits than emo vampires -- whose Em is far more complicated and resonant than most objects-of-affection in similarly guy-centric films.
Despite his Superbad success, Mottola is foremost an independent filmmaker, as those who saw his debut The Daytrippers knows.
With Adventureland, he aims for a balance between tones -- retaining enough of Superbad's goofball bearing to please the crowds while also imbuing the crudeness with authentic emotion.
And he mostly succeeds: The characters never trip over the comedy. And vice-versa.
Is the movie best appreciated by those who lived through Reagan-era conservatism?
Probably.
But that doesn't make its themes and situations any less identifiable.
Who hasn't, after all, had a summer job they loathed or forged impossible friendships with similarly mired people?
It's timeless.
Twilight: The DVD - Starring Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001P5HRMI/almosthuman
http://chitika.com/publishers.php?refid=almosthuman99
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