It’s the summer of 1987, people wear Molly Hatchet t-shirts with no irony, Hüsker Dü and Big Star are on the car stereo and curly-haired Jewish grad student James Brennan is gearing up to bum around Europe, where, he hopes to lose his virginity to someone sophisticated enough to appreciate his degree in Comparative Literature and Renaissance Studies. Our young scholar is brought down to earth with a thump by the news that his wealthy parents are no longer quite so privileged. The holiday is off and, worse, he’ll need to take a regular summer job if he wishes to continue his studies in the fall.
With no practical experience in any area whatsoever, James is forced to seek employment at Adventureland, a low rent fairground staffed by an oddball collection of losers, college dropouts and white trash.
In accordance with the Caddyshack Law, this proves a brilliantly miserabilist device; if there’s anything worse than minimum wage, it’s minimum wage surrounded by laughter and ruffians. Our unfortunate hero’s ordeal is, happily, lightened by the presence of a gorgeous Grad School refugee (Kristen Stewart), deadpan new BF (Martin Starr) and such hilarious character actors as Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig.
This charming coming-of-age dramedy cannot match Superbad, writer-director Greg Mottola’s brilliant last feature, for laughs. Then again, it’s not that sort of movie. Preferring poignancy to penis doodles, Adventureland instead harks back to the bittersweet notes stuck by The Daytrippers, Mr. Mottola’s 1997 debut. Jesse Eisenberg, like Liev Schrieber, is pretentious, then humbled. There are a few structural cracks in his journey – one too many musical montages, unexpected switches out of single perspective, a decidedly nineties sensibility – but this is a much better ride than anything offered by the gloriously tacky amusement park of the title.