How could the director of 2007’s funniest film, “Superbad,” go so wrong with his follow-up feature, “Adventureland”? For one, “Adventureland” is missing the sharp social insight and raunchy but well-delivered dialogue written by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, screenwriters for “Superbad.”. Director Greg Mottola wrote “Adventureland” himself, apparently forgetting to include the humor along the way. This coming-of-age film about college kids working at a carnival during a summer in the 1980s, tries to be self-aware, angst-ridden, and understated to poor effect.
The comedy is so mild and underemphasized it practically goes unnoticed. Self-aware only works with a strong main character that can bring the viewer along to share his insight. Jesse Eisenberg lacks the charisma of a Matthew Broderick or John Cusack to successfully pull a one-man-show off. He is not even geek chic enough to be Jonah Hill or Michael Cera of “Superbad.” Eisenberg’s James simply fades into the storyline, as a character who is luckier than he deserves to be with the ladies. The teen angst was sufficient but the plot is unnecessarily muddied with an inappropriate adult relationship with one of the characters. Watching a man live out his mid-life crisis with young, vulnerable women is neither funny nor entertaining.
James is supposed to be going onto graduate school after the summer but a financial problem may postpone his future. He takes a last minute job at an amusement park to hopefully save money for the school year. He meets a dreamy, cool gal named Em (Kristen Stewart; “Twilight”) who he instantly clicks with. The problem is that Em has some significant emotional baggage she keeps hidden. James is unable to break through this barrier, leading him to search for companionship elsewhere. Stewart is a distant and vacuous co-star, who is unable to shake her Bella mannerisms. The emotional rollercoaster comes to an eventual conclusion when both characters confess their secrets in mildly dramatic fashion. Noone’s lives are the same after this summer.
Whether the voyage in “Adventureland” is supposed to be cathartic or create additional emotional problems is unknown. Watching young adults live out their mistakes as they venture out into the real world for the first time is not my idea of enjoyable viewing, especially if a viewer is expected to laugh at their follies.
Rated R for language, drug use and sexual references.
