A film built on the basis of a young guy graduating with a worthless degree in Renaissance Studies, losing his parents’ financial stake in his Columbia Journalism grad school opportunity and taking a job at a scummy amusement park in Pittsburgh needs a good balance of actors with good comedic timing and should probably be written by Greg Motolla.
Enter “Adventureland.” Taking place in Pittsburgh, 1987, a disappointed James (Jesse Eisenberg) has got to earn some cheddar to pay for school now that his dad has been laid off at work and the only job he can find is at Adventureland. Luckily for him, the owners Bobby (Bill Hader) and Paulette (Kristen Wiig) dub him a “games boy.” Welcome to the life of a carnie, James.
My hopes of Michael Cera perfectly portraying the part of awkward and virginal James were crushed when Eisenberg’s name appeared on the cast list. But after careful observation of his facial expressions and clips of his “Adventureland” scenes I am almost convinced Eisenberg will make me laugh with his performance. From what I have seen I can tell he is not comedically awkward as Cera but his pausing techniques are perfect for a Motolla film.
Fusing together the sex-based and filthy humor from Superbad with the warm, caring emotions of Juno, “Adventureland” has the potential to add towards Motolla’s epic resume of directing “Superbad” and writing TV’s “Arrested Development.”
The always forlorn-faced Kristen Stewart plays James’ potential love Em Lewin, the quirky girl with issues running deeper than she suggests to others. She has a bad taste in her mouth when it comes to love and I would assume she considers herself one of the guys. I mean, she does work at an amusement park in Pittsburgh and it is the late ’80s, she probably has a negative outlook on life. Regardless of how hard she tries, previews suggest she lowers her guard for James. While I do not particularly care of Stewart’s disposition, I am giving her the benefit of the doubt she will successfully pull of playing this role based on her performance alongside Jodie Foster in “Panic Room.”
James begins making friends throughout the amusement park, partially due to the bag of joints his yuppie friend disposed of by way of James, which especially attracts the attention of ’80s rock star maintenance man Mike Connell, played by Ryan Reynolds. Only the attractive and seemingly arrogant Reynolds could manage being the ring-wearing blatant cheater and still make girls want to throw their inhibitions to the wind for him.
Even though the other characters portrayed in “Adventureland” seem worn out by previous comedic castings, Martin Starr, from “Knocked Up,” will probably make the awkward yet intellectual Joel funnier than his character seems on paper.
Margarita Levieva plays Lisa P., the girl that knows every man wants her and every girl wants to be her. Levieva gets lucky having “Adventureland” as her first major film because it can make her career in blockbuster comedies but if she does not pull her own weight, her character will forever be filled by other actresses in the minds of those who were not satisfied with her performance.
It is hard to say a movie will not be laugh-out-loud funny when SNL’s Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig play each others’ spouse and are the owners of a fixed-game, rusty ride amusement park. Plus, Motolla’s previous record of productions keeps me on my toes until opening night of the film.