Adventureland (2009) – 4/5

Adventureland (2009) – 4/5

This movie is really betrayed by it’s trailer. The trailer looks like this silly, quirky comedy about teens in the 80’s in the style of Seth Rogen, SNL/Adam Sanberg, etc. Of course, all of those parts are shown in the trailer and the rest is the actual movie.

This movie is more like a cross btwn “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist” and “The Graduate.”

Also, from the trailer, I thought the main actor, Jesse Eisenberg, wd hold the movie back, but he really was a high point.

It might not deserve 4 out of 5, but it’s good and was a pleasant surprise.

SPOILERS:

James, a virgin, gets a summer job at a small theme park. He falls in love w/ a girl who’s sleeping w/ a married man. Complicated and delicate. The ending was a bit of a let down – as far as they way the writers decided to show their “committment” or decision or whatever you want to say they wd call it, but I’m certainly not surprised.

They introduce some concepts of family and pain and angst in youth particularly in the 80’s when people seemed to be getting faced w/ the consequences of their decisions and the “Me” decade was in full swing. I liked how they didn’t try to resolve all of that – they just put it out there.