I'm really excited to see it. I thought the trailer was great.

I didn't realize till you said it that Kirsten Stewart was in this film, which is really bad marketing, if they had a brain they would put "the star of twilight" all over this thing, and have the dumb teen girls running for this. As it is, it looks both mediocre, and set to fail at the BO, I will watch it (without paying) and expect to pretty much agree with you Magnus.
Movies35, i get more and more confused by your movie taste with each passing post.

If you are looking for something that is as funny as Superbad, then you will be disapointed. However this plays well as a a teen dramedy, with a a few laught out loud moments. The cast is great and makes for a fun and sweet time in theatres.

B+

Adventureland

Saw it Tonight 040209

What I liked:

Hader
Wiig
Eisenberg
Matt Bush (ATT boy)

What I hated:

the plot, most of the film

Summary:

The film was very very slow. It wasn't a comedy, more like a dramady. In fact, after the film was over and we all exhaled and sighed and everything else I thought it reminded me of Nick and Norah. This is Nothing like Superbad and the mention of that is pretty unfair to the audience. Back to Nick and Norah, it's similar to that but way less funny and just a notch less interesting and nowhere near as good as N&N.

I did keep attention with the film throughout, however, and when there was comedy it was normally pretty good such as when Hader goes ape crazy to fend off a park goer or when Bush is doing some type of antic like peeing at the window. Funny moments but this film is really full of dialogue and the disappointing thing is that it's not very interesting. The characters overall (besides the ones I liked) were pretty boring and/or unlikable. The whole psycho drama with the "emily" is just taxing when watching it and having to listen to that girl whine was almost to the breaking point. Anyway, this was a very long movie and definitely try to see it Free like I did if at all possible, but if you Really loved loved Nick and Norah you'll probably enjoy this somehow.

Grade - D

The psycho drama is indeed just plain bad. I think it could have worked if Kristen Stewart was actually an actress and not a walking skeleton.

I did what I could.

I love yoshue. He's the smartest sexiest poster on the site.

Wonderful!

To my surprise, Adventureland is a real movie, a straight-from-the-heart, intelligent bit of filmmaking from the apparently very talented Greg Mottola. There's nothing phony or product-y about it. It does everything right. Mottola cares enough to even give would-be stock characters, like that played by Ryan Reynolds, multiple dimensions.

I had a huge grin on my face the whole time.

Yup.

This has been a surprisingly strong first couple of months. This, Last House on the Left, Two Lovers, and I Love You, Man are all fantastic pieces of work.

I think the best aspect of this is its remarkable maturity and deft handling of its characters. Like you said, even the suspected archetype of the shady Ryan Reynolds character is granted an extraordinary amount of depth and grace. I was also (pleasantly) surprised by Mottola's skill regarding composition and camera work. There were some modest hints of that in Superbad, but this is a great looking picture.

And also, for those ripping on Kristen Stewart... did we see the same movie? This girl is fantastic.

I liked Kristen Stewart too, but her character was written more like a 16 year old then a girl at least 21. The temper tantrum with the step-mother was cliched and a bit over-the-top.

The trailers really didn't appeal to me, so I'm glad that the reviews got me to see it. It's pleasant.

I thought Stewart was really good too.
... and I thought the girl that played Lisa P looked a lot like Eliza Dushku.

Cliched and over the top? Have you ever been through a situation where your mother passes away from cancer and your father remarries a short time later?

I have, and I'll tell you that her "temper tantrum" was very real and as far from cliched and over the top as can be. In fact, when it happened, I cheered inside.

What a disappointment...

I had high hopes for a melancholy yet hilarious, nostalgic look at coming of age in the 80's - - the results however, as seen in Adventureland, turn out to be a depressing yet directionless, half-hearted look at coming of age in the 80's.

The actors were average (at best). The lead guy is the kid from The Squid and the Whale... oh boy - - and the lead girl is the older sister from Zathura... wowzer.

The supporting actors are sadly underplayed. I especially would have like to have seen the talent of Kristen Wiig given room to erupt. Bill Hader, alone, of the cast gets a couple of all to brief moments to uncap his shine here.

I'll bet dollars to donuts that this is writer-director Greg Mottola's life story, and no matter how truthful it might be, it just ain't that entertainin' - - this movie sputters down the runway and never really takes flight before grinding to a halt dead out of fuel...

Even, the 80's settings which could have been some fun in themselves, also seemed to be half-heartedly realized. This whole dang thing is just plain lazy.

As boring and pointless as it is, Adventureland is still better than that other big movie released this wknd, that stinking dung heap titled F&FIV.

out of

Yay! That means I will love it.

I'm not sure we have exactly inversely proportional taste in movies, but I wish you the best with Adventureland, because it sure didn't work for me...



(One thing's for sure - - as nghtvsn mentioned above, it ain't no Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist - - that was a far, far better film with a similar storyline.)

I've noticed that most of the time, we tend to not agree. There are some random movies (like FEAST OF LOVE for example) that we've both loved... but of course anyone with any kind of common sense should love that underrated movie.

Bradley has an incredibly unique taste in movies. He could totally love one movie and then totally hate a very similiar. I like reading what he has to say because he is very entertaining, and humorous, in his synopsis, and even though i never count on agreeing I certainly like to see what he has to say.
You, movies35, also have a very unique taste, but lack that same comedic edge he has. I read what you have to say becaus I'm still trying to figure out what makes you like some movies and hate others.

Bradley's style is well known around KJ Marin, always love it myself bar that one occasion where he sported a massive sig for 9 months..............damn you lack of Google Chrome image block!

I had absolutely no desire to see this until the reviews started coming in, and I am glad I listened to them.

Despite the marketing that highlighted the comedy, Adventureland is a coming-of-age tale with comedic and romantic elements to it. There's a lot to the film that rings true as you watch it; none of the characters are sugarcoated or demonized, which is very refreshing. The connection between the two leads slowly builds and is completely believable, including all the silly things they do in response to their mutual attraction. Eisenberg and Stewart play characters that you can imagine being friends with, if you are in their age group...they seem real, and like decent people. All the laughs the film gets are earned, and they are smartly spread out through the movie so that none of the supporting cast turn into complete hams and overshadow the story. And the soundtrack is kickin'.

It's a little charmer of a movie that I never saw coming. A

It's nice when a movie is really different from how it was marketed out to be, as long as what you get is better than what was promised. That was my experience with this movie. Instead of being a second-rate Superbad, it was a really touching (yet still funny) story about all the shit people deal with during that part of life when they aren't kids anymore, but aren't quite adults yet either. Eisenberg gives a smart and funny performance, Stewart does a surprisingly strong job with some difficult material, and the supporting cast all adds positively to the movie (although Ryan Reynolds, sadly, did not get a very interesting role). As was the case with Superbad, the music/cinematography play a large part in setting the cool mood that goes perfectly with the story and style of the film. I'm officially interested in whatever project this Greg Mottola guy works on next.

A-

The advertising for Adventureland truly doesn't do it justice. While there are plenty of laughs to be found and it wears its R-rating proud, it's far from the raunchy ways of recent films that have covered similar grounds. It's the story of recent college grad James (played by Jesse Eisenberg) and the ups and downs he faces with life and love while he works a summer job at an amusement park to assist with the costs of attending grad school the following fall. Though James has his nerdy qualities, Eisenberg plays up the sincerity and humanity of the character more than any of his awkward traits, making for a very solid and honest performance. But the one to watch is Kristen Stewart as Em, his love interest. Unlike in her role in Twilight, Stewart is given the chance to display depth, and that's exactly what she does, presenting a complex portrait of a young woman trying (and often failing) to show that the more undesirable parts of her life don't get to her. Eisenberg and Stewart shine together, and they're assisted by a talented supporting cast that features solid work from Ryan Reynolds as the married maintenance guy having sex with Em on the side (who actually does really well in a role where some say he was miscast), Martin Starr as a nerdy co-worker(who, like Eisenberg, but to a greater extent, wisely doesn't let his character get lost in his awkward ways), relative newcomer Margarita Levieva as the much sought-after park hottie Lisa P, and even small roles from Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as the managers. It's a funny, honest, and sweet movie well worth seeking out, and another big winner for Superbad director Greg Mottola.

A-

This is quite good. The progression from Superbad to Nick and Norah to this is interesting - The first sort of hits the way young people talk but still in a very pumped up comedic way, the second goes a little farther into realism and Friday night talk and strips down the camera, but still keeps its light comedy tone and archetyped supporting characters, then Adventureland almost completley nails real people and real atmosphere, dipping into drama. All three also have similar "get laid" plots. The next step will be dropping the teen romance plot contrivances and formula, or making this era's Dazed and Confused

The acting in this is fairly phenomenal from all involved. Kristen Stewart delivers, she's got some talent for being only 19. I like how both characters know what's up right away - There's no waiting until the 3rd act to realize "hey, I like her." Things happen quickly, which is accurate

I definitely agree that some of the supporting characters like Joel or Reynolds' character get more of a fair stick than they normally would in these films, I'd say the former nearly steals the film actually, a lot is said about him through his expressions and stares.

I like the first half of the film more than the second, due to the beforementioned contrivances (the discovery of the Stewart/Reynolds thing and the aftermath street argument most particularly). While the dramatic touch is nice, oddly enough I think the film work more when its light and comic and doesn't take itself as seriously. As a whole it strikes a nice balance though. I love the last 15 minutes - the conversation with Joel and then the meet-up in New York are both done perfectly.

It's a good film, not a classic, but a nice addition and variation in the "Apatow group" films.

3.5/5

I don't really feel like writing a review for this at the moment but I saw it last night and it's the best movie I've seen since 2007. It was wonderful, romantic and hilarious.

10/10 (A+)

i thought it was very solid. Jesse and Kristen were both solid and Reynolds & Hader killed. Wiig i still find to be rather bland in basically everything i've ever seen her in. The story was solid but dragged in some places. The humor was a little on the light side but the drama worked really well. Jesse reminds me a lot of Michael Cera.

B