Review: Adventureland Keeps it Real
We were sold on the film from the moment the trailer came on the screen before I Love You, Man (naturally), making Adventureland look like a Caddyshack for the next generation: all screwball comedy and love gone wrong; the next “Judd Apatow” genre flick. Of course, that specific brand of comedy—the amiable-guy-with-a-heart-who's-in-a-relatable-situation-that-maybe-isn’t-really-even-very-schticky-but-somehow-is-still-funny film—has been around a while now, and its audience comes in with certain expectations. But this film isn’t what the trailer had led us to believe.
Adventureland is the story of Brennan, a recent college graduate (Jesse Eisenberg from The Squid and the Whale) working the only summer job he can get, pimping the midway games at Adventureland Amusement Park, before starting grad school at Columbia. The situations are realistic and the drama is believable. Sex, dating, the bad summer job, financial issues, overbearing parents…it’s all there, but there are no real jokes, per se. Every situation is treated with respect and the characters react like normal people might (imagine!). Nothing goes over the top, and it feels like this is something that could really happen, that even happens all the time.
There's plenty to make you smile, or even chuckle a little, but not a lot of laugh-out-loud-tell-your-friends-later humor. In fact, after a while, we started to long for Frigo (Matt Bush), Brennan’s obnoxious coworker, to come onscreen and punch someone in the ‘nads…again.
Not to say that this film isn’t good. On the contrary, it is; it’s just not like anything else out there right now. Real characters, real drama, and relatively cliché-free, Adventureland stands on its own as a sweet portrait of real life and the struggles we all go through. Its heart of gold is there on its sleeve, it's just not quite as funny as you might be hoping. Manage your expectations, though, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by an honest story, hold the schtick.
