Adventureland Review

A comedy from the director of the 2007 hit Superbad would be surrounded by high hopes for another comedic masterpiece. Sadly, Adventureland falls short of these expectations. Very short.

Adventureland is a comedy set in 1987 Pittsburgh centered on James Brennan, played by Jesse Eisenburg (The Education of Charlie Banks), a college student with a desire to go to Europe for the summer. After his father is demoted, James’ parents can’t afford to send him on the trip, or even pay his next year’s tuition. To finance his schooling, James is forced to take a job at the local amusement park, Adventureland. There, he meets a wide variety of characters, including Kristen Stewart’s (Twilight) Em, an emotional shell of a human being. Unfortunately, these characters are nowhere near enough to save the movie.

The sheer lack of humor in the movie is its greatest shortcoming. The movie, labeled as a comedy, is utterly unenjoyable. Its few comical parts were truly wasted, used as a filler to help the movie retain its “comedy” genre.

An all-star cast is Adventureland’s only strong point, and even their performances linger on the line of sad. Ryan Reynolds (National Lampoon’s Van Wilder), Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live), and Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live) were all drastically underused, with Reynolds not even uttering a single laugh-inducing line the whole movie. Had these three been utilized to their full comedic potential, the movie could have been much better; enjoyable, even. Their lack of use comically crippled the movie.

Being deprived of a plot did not help Adventureland’s appeal. After James is hired at the park, there isn’t much else to the movie. His ups and downs with several girls (mainly Em) are the main point of the movie, and even that takes a backseat the rest of the pointlessness.

Reading between the lines in the movie reveals the subtle moral of the story: “a friend with weed is a friend indeed.” The repetitive use of marijuana throughout the entire movie was completely unnecessary: it didn’t contribute to the humor whatsoever, and it was used by most of the characters just out of sheer boredom. Had the producers spent as much time making the movie comical as they did having the characters pass joints, the movie could have had potential.

Not much of a critic pleaser, Adventureland failed to put a smile on many people’s faces. Steve Anderson of ScreenHead.com says “despite Adventureland’s best efforts, it can’t manage to pull itself off the kiddie coaster and become a full-fledged high-flier.” The movie didn’t even shine in the Box Office: it only raked in $5.7 million over the course of one week.

Advetnureland fails in almost every field; the saddest part is how hard it tries to get there. The effort put into the movie is clear, but the finished product is nothing short of a train wreck. This movie actually tarnishes the reputation of its director, Greg Mottola; after releasing a movie as good as Superbad, directing Adventureland is basically a career slump. Mottola’s next movie will have to surpass Superbad in order to make up for such a disgrace.