Adventureland :: movie review 2009 . Adventureland starts in 1987 at a party with the James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) being heckled by his friends about his breakup with his girlfriend because he is a virgin, and as with most of these coming of age movies this is the underlying plot as he tries to remedy this. He is told by his parents that if he wants to attend Columbia University he must get a job so after being turned down for employment elsewhere he is accepted at the Adventureland theme park. This is where he starts to in love with a coworker Em Lewin (Kristen Stewart), but she is already sleeping with the park mechanic and he is married.

With a sound track that is very much a cross section of that era and has some great songs form great bands including Tops by The Rolling Stones from Tattoo you. Margarita Levieva was a standout in this film with her role as Lisa P. and Kristen Stewart straight from her role as Bella Swan in Twilight does a good job and I think kind of carries the movie in a way. With the whole 80’s thing blowing up these days I was surprised by the lack luster box office for this film as everyone in my neighborhood of Silverlake California looks like they steps out of a time machine in 1985.Well I had to really look for this film as I missed it in the beginning of this theater run, but I did get to see it in theater on a not so big screen. I try to never read over reviews of film I’m reviewing, but I did for this film and after reading the other reviewers I wanted to see this film. Well I’m going to go with the moviegoers on this one this story was slow and I really didn’t care if James got laided or not. Greg Mottola directed Superbad, wrote and directed this film and it’s just a little slow in parts and lacks the one liners and goofy humor of Superbad. There are some funny scenes and a kind of weird energy as the film is set in the past and is true to it, but it just come a bit shy of a home run more like a double. Is this a comedy or a drama? It is funny and has a story to it, the quote of this film is “…Boner “and brought a big laugh from everyone in the theater. This will be a big hit on DVD and Blu-ray and should be a strong contender this year at the MTV awards.

Directed by Greg Mottola
Produced by Sidney Kimmel, Anne Carey, Ted Hope
Written by Greg Mottola
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Ryan Reynolds , Kristen Stewart ,  Margarita Levieva
Music by Yo La Tengo
Cinematography Terry Stacey
Editing by Anne McCabe
Distributed by Miramax Films

movie review by film critic @ Actionmoviereviews.com Matt Willey 2009