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April 2, 2009

Adventures in the land of growing up

By Sean McBride



 

“Adventureland”

Miramax Films

Directed by Greg Mottola

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr, Margarita Levieva, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig

Rated R

 

3 Stars     



Sean McBride covered this viewing live from SXSW Film Festival in Austin:



When Greg Mottola directed “Superbad” two years ago, we all expected that he would follow up that raunchy teen comedy with another raunchy teen comedy. Some of us even dared to hope for a film that would go even further into the realm of black humor. Perhaps “Superbad II: Raunchier and Teenier?”

Instead, we have “Adventureland” rolling into theaters this week. As you would expect from Mottola’s new film, the film features plenty of sex talk, awkward situations, bodily fluids, pratfalls and drug humor. As you might not expect, the film is decidedly tamer than “Superbad,” and while the movie trailers play up the comedic aspects of the film, “Adventureland” actually turns out to be a fairly poignant, coming-of-age dramedy, not quite what we were expecting. Call it a disappointment for those looking for an all-out funny flick, but a charming winner for those satisfied with a nice time at the movies.

Jessie Eisenberg stars in the Michael Cera role, playing a young kid just out of college who takes a summer job at a run down amusement park instead of going off to Europe. Working at Adventureland is the only job that he can get and he really needs the money. The job is a minimum wage joke, but it does have some perks, namely a girl named Em (Kristen Stewart).

The rest is a sweet romance where our shy, good-hearted hero tries to woo that cool girl next door (actually, the next booth over). A rock and roll park handyman with an eye for the ladies (Ryan Reynolds) complicates the romance, and for the first time in too many teen comedies to count, the best friend (Martin Starr) doesn’t mess things up by being an over-the-top maniac who drags everybody down into his realm of chaos. Good heavens, the best friend is actually normal, what kind of a raunchy teen comedy is this?

The film does still manage to have some quite funny moments, with “Saturday Night Live” players Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig being rationed out for comic strikes, but really “Adventureland” succeeds because of the performances of Eisenberg, Stewart and the rest of the young cast. It succeeds because it’s a believable, yet humorous tale of growing up, which is after all, the scary best adventure ever.

Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” are published bi-weekly in “The Port Arthur News” and weekly on KFDM-TV. Sean welcomes your comments via email at smcbride@kavutv.com.

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