ADVENTURELAND is a coming-of-age film that never does

What makes Greg Motolla’s Adventureland such a struggle to get through is the transparent characters that are never established and fail to fulfill any requirements desired by the viewer– me.

The premise is too tasty to be true and indeed this ended up being the case. Set in the late 80s, post-graduate student James (Jesse Eisenberg) works at a crummy amusement park to raise the money required to go study in New York. Despite him being a dorky virgin without a romantic clue, romance with ladies ensues (Kristen Stewart, mainly) and we’re left to believe he’s grown to all he can be with the open world as his oyster. If only it were a little more convincing in the delivery of that message Adventureland might have felt more rewarding.

The decade that followed 1980 seems a go-to time slot for a few films recently, which no-doubt has much to do with so many young filmmakers hitting their teenage strides during that time. Unfortunately Adventureland doesn’t capture anything as pure as it could have about the 80s, instead relying only on some hair styles, cliche (and almost inaccurate) fashions and the occasional tune to carry the era. Should anyone catch this on television half way through they might not be aware that the setting is actually 1987.  Adventureland miss-uses enabling gears like music soundtrack, dialogue and some potentially clever mise en scène chances to completely drop the ball on setting a nostalgic 80s tone for itself. Which is a real shame because the potential to encapsulate that era evidently sits just beyond its capabilities.

The opening credits of Superbad, Motolla’s previously-directed film, have more nostalgic retro-flare than all of Adventureland‘s combined frames. That’s pretty much all one needs to know because the rest of the film is horribly plain.

There are few redeeming qualities about Jesse Eisenberg’s performance as James. To be fair, I guess he delivered what was required and no-doubt asked of him. But the stumbling quirkiness and casual-cool-dork is a little too laid back and boxed-up to be anyone I could vouch for. I didn’t hope he would get the girl– and was not happy for him when he did. I was not interested in him saving money and was not disappointed when he lost it all. I never felt his heartbreak and I didn’t feel comforted when he ‘found’ himself (wet and naked with the girl he was meant to be with) at the film’s conclusion. Is that in the writing? Yep. And the direction… but also in the casting. Jesse Eisenberg can only do it one way: sometimes it works (Zombieland) and others, such as this time, it doesn’t.

What fascinates me most about the James character here is that he’s clearly geared to be easily related to by the viewer, yet his achievements are unwarranted and somehow seem out of character. He’s an A+ student who sells marijuana but doesn’t completely rebel, has his friends rip on him constantly yet appears cool and calm around the ladies he will impress. He should be nervous and unaware, but he makes stud-like moves and wins the heart of the one he wants to be with. I found the character conflicting and unsure of itself– I also kept waiting for some kind of recovery but it never happens.

If you’re a fan of Kristen Stewart it had better be because of Twilight and nothing else. Here she is at her squinty, fiddly painful best and the less said about it the better. She mopes. A lot. The comparisons (even though Adventureland came first) are uncanny.

Eisenberg and Stewart are joined by an ensemble cast of comedy-favorites including Bill Hader and Ryan Reynolds who seem to merely go through the motions. Ryan Reynolds particularly keeps to his cardboard form, giving us another variation of what only he can do — not very much at all.

Of all the support cast, Hader is the standout. It’s refreshing when his character Bobby and his on-screen wife Paulette (played by Kristen Wiig) arrive amongst the plot, giving the story a breather with some timely humour that is unfortunately lacking throughout the bulk of the ‘comedy’ film itself. Hader at least strives to deliver a character outside of his normal self, though the style of comedy is all the way his own repeated efforts.

The point of a coming-of-age film is to feel enlightened at the the film’s conclusion. To have seen your hero rise from the filth of his life and become all that he can be while conquering those that held him back in the process should propel the viewer to enthusiasm and active reflection on their own lives. What Adventureland does is peel that right back into a stoner-movie come love-triangle during a Summer that doesn’t really change the lives of those involved a great deal. The result is dreadfully unrewarding and painfully predictable when compared to other past-decade coming-of-age stories such as Dazed & Confused (1993) and Almost Famous (2000) that got their era so very right. Those are classics, I know — but I get the smug feeling from Adventureland that it expected to be lobbed into the same basket as those films when it was all said and done. It’s far from worthy.

If I had known that the running gag throughout Adventureland was the lead character frequently getting dropped in the nuts by his annoying best friend I might not have bothered. As it stands, I can only wish I hadn’t.

Adventureland

52 out of 100