Sunday 25 October 2009

Adventureland.

Adventureland is the third film by Greg Mottola, known best for 2007's Superbad. Don't let his previous film make you think that Adventureland will be all dick and fart jokes (as hilarious as they were), as it is a completely different film.
Ladies and gentlemen, once every couple of years, you'll see a film that moves you to the point that after viewing it you feel slightly weak, you feel changed. I think the last time I felt this way about a film was when I saw Say Anything two years ago. To be honest with you there is a comparison with that film in here too, it's more Say Anything or a less experimental, more straightforward Slacker than Superbad.
The film is set in 1987, in Pittsburgh. James (Jesse Eisenberg) is a post-grad student in journalism who, after finding his parents can't support him financially, decides that he is going to have to take a summer job at the theme park, Adventureland, which is where he meets Emily (Kristen Stewart).
Let me start by saying that any film that opens with The Replacements' Bastards of Young already has my vote. Not just that but also Unsatisfied, and songs by Husker Du and The Cure, at one point a very cute Kristen Stewart wears a Husker Du t-shirt. I know it's trite to love the 80s, and it's probably strange that I related to this film so much considering I was 1 in 1987, I'm from the highlands of Scotland and even I had been of age in 1987 it's pretty unlikely that I would have heard the Replacements due to a shitty import scene and lack of internet in those days but I've always felt an affinity with the alt-rock bands of the mid to late 80s. It may have been 2004 where I had my summer job between school and university (night shift in Tesco, which looks much less fun than working in Adventureland), but I still had all the experiences just like in this film: binge drinking, unrequited love, late nights, American alternative rock, reading poetry for pleasure and late night drives. This film is exactly like a Replacements record: all the grown-ups are boring, your job sucks and you just hang out.
Both leads Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart are fantastic, all I really knew Kristen Stewart from was Twilight (which I didn't enjoy) and Into The Wild (which was one of those films I talked about at the start of this piece), but she really played the role well. Bill Hader has a small part which adds some light relief. I know Adventureland was marketed as a comedy, but it's not exactly a comedy. There are little bits where you'll laugh, but it's pretty dark in all honesty. To me it just feels like a slacker film. I don't really want to mention too much about the plot as there's so much that you really have to see for yourself.
Another great thing about this film that I touched upon earlier is the fact that the 80s is the setting, but the film doesn't force that upon you, there's no day-glo leggings or Duran Duran, it relies more on what the 80s were really like: just like today but with less mobile phones and facebook and as many yuppies.
In short, go and see this film if you can. It's one of those films that you can watch again straight after you've seen it. The soundtrack is fantastic, and I forgot to mention that Yo La Tengo do the score. Next time I'll be reviewing Zombieland, which also stars Jesse Eisenberg so look forward to that in the coming days.

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