*** May contain spoilers ***

Enjoyabale

TheOriginalReviewer from from kensington, 14th February, 2010

US, August 19, 2009 - Set in 1987, Adventureland revolves around James (The Squid and the Whale's Jesse Eisenberg), who has just graduated college. He thinks he has everything set – a backpacking trip across Europe for the summer, followed by grad school in New York in the fall. But he's dependent on his parents, and when some major new money problems hit them, he finds that his future plans have suddenly become far less certain. Extremely brainy, James is the kind of person who 'reads poetry for pleasure' -- and also likes to describe himself as such. He's overqualified and under-experienced for any sort of menial labor job, but finally finds some summer employment at nearby amusement park, Adventureland. An obviously crappy place to work, Adventureland is the kind of amusement park that is the antithesis of its name – gloomy, dank and unwelcoming. But among the depressing surroundings, there are some bright spots. James makes a fast friend in the sardonic Joel (Freaks and Geeks's Martin Starr), and also is quickly fascinated by Em (Kristen Stewart) -- a pretty coworker with a cool attitude, who seems pretty responsive to James' interest. And he also is able to make plenty of additional aquaintences thanks to the large amount of weed a rich friend of his left him before leaving for the summer. If you've seen the trailers for Adventureland, you've seen how the ad campaign is playing up the fact that this film comes from the director of Superbad, Greg Mottola. And on the surface, there are some comparisons, as this is also a comedic film centered around young, somewhat dorky characters – and James, like the Superbad guys, is a virgin. But really, the ads for Adventureland are a bit disingenuous, because tonally, this is a much different film than many going in will expect – far more melancholy and sometimes depressing than the Superbad connections and heightened trailers hint at.

Read all highest rated reviews