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2009 Adam Kroloff Alana Hixson Alexis Ferrante Amy Landis Andrew Ransom Anne Carey Ashtin Petrella Barret Hackney Bill Hader Bruce Toll Cliff Chen Dan Bittner Declan Baldwin Eric Schaeffer Erin Cappiccie Gennaro DiSilvio Greg Mottola Ian Harding Jack Baldwin Jack Gilpin Janine Viola Jesse Eisenberg Jesse Slinger Joe Pawlenko Joe Sanderson Josh Pais Kelsey Ford Kevin Breznahan Kimisha Renee Davis Kristen Stewart Kristen Wiig Lisa Lamendola Marc Grapey Margarita Levieva Martin Starr Mary Birdsong Matt Bush Michael Zegen Moe Slinger Paige Howard Rob Orr Russell Steinberg Ryan McFarland Ryan Reynolds Sidney Kimmel Stephen Mast Ted Hope Todd Cioppa Vanessa Hope Wendie Malick William Horberg Zack Palmer
First Review: A sweet and slap-happy mix of indie coming-of-age drama and Judd Apatow’s scatological but heartfelt manchild comedies, Greg Mottola’s Adventureland is a winning look at the pleasures and frustrations of dead-end jobs and teenage kicks as viewed through a filter of mid-‘80s pop culture. The underutilized and always watchable Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale) is a sheltered, introspective New York college grad who discovers that his parents’ financial woes will not only quash his dream of a summer in Europe (to enjoy its more “sexually permissive” nations) but require a move to Pittsburgh, where he lands a job at a dilapidated amusement park. There, he’s thrown in with a motley crew of eccentrics, small-town types and a few genuine free spirits, most notably co-worker Em (Kristen Stewart), whose complicated past proves irresistible to his repressed psyche. Mottola, who directed Superbad and episodes of the well-loved Freaks and Geeks, and who once worked in a similar park as a teen, doesn’t shy from the crude laughs that make Apatow’s features so popular, but he tempers it with a wistful tone and layered characters that hew closer to his earliest work, The Daytrippers. Though ill-matched at first, Eisenberg and Stewart make a likable on-screen couple, and they’re well-supported by a terrific cast that includes such die-hard scene-stealers as Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as the park’s offbeat owners, Martin Starr as a Russian lit aficionado, and Ryan Reynolds as a former town tamer, now reduced to working as the park’s handyman. A soundtrack performed by underground faves Yo La Tengo and filled with a smart mix of hip cuts (Hüsker Dü, the New York Dolls, the Replacements) and period faves (Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus”) underscores the film’s blend of tentative emotions and broad laughs.
Category: Comedy
All Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Release Year: 2009
Country: USA
Runtime: 107 minutes
Rating: 7.8/10
Languages: English
Director:
Sound: Dolby Digital, SDDS, DTS
Writing by :
Greg Mottola - writer
Produced by:
Declan Baldwin - co-producer
Anne Carey - producer
Ted Hope - producer
William Horberg - executive producer
Sidney Kimmel - producer
Bruce Toll - executive producer
Music By:
Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg - James Brennan
Kelsey Ford - Arlene
Michael Zegen - Eric
Ryan McFarland - Brad
Jack Gilpin - Mr. Brennan
Wendie Malick - Mrs. Brennan
Matt Bush - Tommy Frigo
Todd Cioppa - Velvet Touch Manager
Stephen Mast - Rich
Kristen Wiig - Paulette
Bill Hader - Bobby
Martin Starr - Joel
Adam Kroloff - Adult Contestant
Kristen Stewart - Em Lewin
Kevin Breznahan - Molly Hatchet T-Shirt Guy
Marc Grapey - Panda Con Dad
Ryan Reynolds - Mike Connell
Paige Howard - Sue O'Malley
Dan Bittner - Pete O'Malley
Moe Slinger - Loud Kid #1
Jesse Slinger - Loud Kid #2
Jack Baldwin - Barfing Kid
Barret Hackney - Munch
Margarita Levieva - Lisa P
Kimisha Renee Davis - Kelly
Russell Steinberg - Foreigner Tribute Band Singer
Andrew Ransom Foreigner Tribute Band Member
Joe Sanderson - Foreigner Tribute Band Member
Cliff Chen - Foreigner Tribute Band Member
Rob Orr - Foreigner Tribute Band Member
Eric Schaeffer - Foreigner Tribute Band Member
Vanessa Hope - Ronnie Connell
Josh Pais - Mr. Lewin
Mary Birdsong - Francy
Gennaro DiSilvio - Nicky
Alexis Ferrante - Nicky's Girlfriend
Joe Pawlenko - Denny
Zack Palmer -Joel's Younger Brother
Declan Baldwin - Male Customer
Ian Harding - Wealthy Prepster
Ashtin Petrella - Prepster's Girlfriend
Amy Landis - Mrs. Ostrow
Janine Viola - Mrs. Frigo
Alana Hixson - Prettiest Girl #1
Erin Cappiccie - Pretty Girl #2
Lisa Lamendola - Foxy Cougar
Official Website:Visit Website
Plot:Arriving with what prove to be outsized expectations for raucous humor on the basis of "Superbad," Greg Mottola's "Adventureland" unspools as a rather ordinary account of youthful summer misadventures that goes down easily thanks to a sparkly cast, more than 40 pop tunes that anchor the action in the late '80s and characters who get high both on and off their jobs at a tacky amusement park. Thanks especially to the presence of leading lady Kristen Stewart in a role she filmed prior to "Twlight," the pic should spin good returns for Miramax on its March 27 release.
Based on the experiences he had working at a Long Island amusement, Mottola cooks up a passable amount of mischief to occupy the late- teen/early-20s misfits who work as ride and game operators at Pittsburgh's Adventureland in the summer of '87. Writer-director's evident stand-in is James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg of "The Squid and the Whale"), who's forced to take any summer job he can get when his European trip is dashed and his autumn date with grad school at Columbia is jeopardized by his alcoholic father's fall from grace at work.
For a Reagan-era pothead, James is a terribly serious, woefully earnest guy who offers up his SAT scores when applying for low-end summer positions. He also somehow has emerged from college still a virgin, but his saving grace as far as his Adventureland cohorts are concerned is that he's always has some weed. This makes the days go by easier, and also fuels the night, which the gawky James surprises himself by chastely spending with the alluring but massively screwed up Em (Kristen Stewart), who works at the park only as a way or getting away from her father and unbearable new stepmother.
What James doesn't know is that Em is having a clandestine affair with older local musician and handyman Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds), to whom James sometimes confesses his amorous feelings for Em. Adding further to the equation is a flirty cupcake Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva), a known virgin-for-life who nonetheless encourages James' attentions.
The set-up provides plenty of opportunity for crude humor, Mottola indulges with abundant involving puking, groin pinches, drunk and stoned behavior, and lax work habits. But his real interest is the navigation of dubious emotional and ethical straits by immature characters who make serious mistakes while trying to feel their way out of their unhappiness.
The filmmakers' investment in James' sudden loss of a safety net, Em's justifiable distress at home, and brainy stoner Joel's (Martin Starr) fury over a one-time date's anti-Semitism is genuine as far as it goes, but little that happens here is particularly surprising, especially the occurrence of some virginity divestment at the end.
Rather off-putting at first with his furrowed-brow attitude, Eisenberg's James becomes increasingly palatable as the summer progresses. Stewart impresses again with her steady, clear-eyed gaze and sense of self. Nice comic turns are put in by Starr as the Gogol-reading outcast and Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as the goofball but dedicated park owners
Goofs:
Trivia:
- Break Videos: Adventureland Trailer
- DailyMotion: Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg Talk Adventureland
- Google video: DP/30 @ Sundance - Adventureland
- Metacafe: Adventureland Cast Exclusive
- MySpace Video: Adventureland trailer in HD
- Tudou: Adventureland Search
- Yahoo Video: 'Adventureland' Trailer
- Youku: Adventureland Search
- YouTube: Adventureland Trailer
