http://www.seanax.com/2009/04/02/new-review-adventureland/ Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:12:17 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 http://www.seanax.com/2009/04/02/new-review-adventureland/comment-page-1/#comment-4298 thirtysomething, Adventureland, Duplicity – DVDs for 8/25/09 | seanax.com Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:09:03 +0000 http://www.seanax.com/?p=2302#comment-4298 [...] Adventureland (Miramax), Greg Mottola’s semi-autobiographical follow-up to Superbad, refers to more than just a chintzy theme park outside of Pittsburg, where college grad James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) spends a dazed and confused summer trying to save money for graduate school. It’s the real world adventures of life in the space between college and independence, that place where you think that you’re an adult but have yet to live outside of the bubble. And it’s one of the smartest, most observant coming-of-age comedies I’ve seen. Set in 1987, with all the attendant cultural detritus appropriately ticking the margins of the story, it charts the lost summer of a college graduate who ends up back in a social world more like high school. James is like the former high school nerd with a newfound sense of self thanks to college, where he discovered that ambition and intelligence are admirable qualities. But they are lost on this crowd except for Em (Kristen Stewart), the smart, supercool and somewhat messed-up girl who makes the job bearable. It’s less outrageously funny than Superbad but more savvy. They may be technically adults, but their social behavior hasn’t matured much beyond high school and James’ coworkers still seem trapped in identities that formed long before. Even the park handyman (Ryan Reynolds) is no more mature than the kids, he just has a better line of bull. Written with an empathy for all the characters and directed with a sharp eye for telling detail and a sensitivity to honest social behavior and cruel social double standards, it’s about relationships and responsibility and identity. This coming-of-age story really is about growing up. (A much more detailed review can me found here.) [...] [...] Adventureland (Miramax), Greg Mottola’s semi-autobiographical follow-up to Superbad, refers to more than just a chintzy theme park outside of Pittsburg, where college grad James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) spends a dazed and confused summer trying to save money for graduate school. It’s the real world adventures of life in the space between college and independence, that place where you think that you’re an adult but have yet to live outside of the bubble. And it’s one of the smartest, most observant coming-of-age comedies I’ve seen. Set in 1987, with all the attendant cultural detritus appropriately ticking the margins of the story, it charts the lost summer of a college graduate who ends up back in a social world more like high school. James is like the former high school nerd with a newfound sense of self thanks to college, where he discovered that ambition and intelligence are admirable qualities. But they are lost on this crowd except for Em (Kristen Stewart), the smart, supercool and somewhat messed-up girl who makes the job bearable. It’s less outrageously funny than Superbad but more savvy. They may be technically adults, but their social behavior hasn’t matured much beyond high school and James’ coworkers still seem trapped in identities that formed long before. Even the park handyman (Ryan Reynolds) is no more mature than the kids, he just has a better line of bull. Written with an empathy for all the characters and directed with a sharp eye for telling detail and a sensitivity to honest social behavior and cruel social double standards, it’s about relationships and responsibility and identity. This coming-of-age story really is about growing up. (A much more detailed review can me found here.) [...]

]]> http://www.seanax.com/2009/04/02/new-review-adventureland/comment-page-1/#comment-3824 dan from austin Sun, 12 Apr 2009 07:06:28 +0000 http://www.seanax.com/?p=2302#comment-3824 Really good review. I think you hit the nail on the head with this line: "If Adventureland isn’t as funny as Mottola’s previous film Superbad, that’s hardly a criticism." Superbad was a great teen comedy, Adventureland is a great film about growing up. It's one of my favorites of the year so far. Really good review. I think you hit the nail on the head with this line: “If Adventureland isn’t as funny as Mottola’s previous film Superbad, that’s hardly a criticism.” Superbad was a great teen comedy, Adventureland is a great film about growing up. It’s one of my favorites of the year so far.

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