Shelf Life is a weekly feature that selects a film currently on DVD/Blu-Ray for review.
Of all the R-rated but sentimental comedies to come out of Judd Apatow’s immense talent pool, Greg Mottola’s 2009 Adventureland may be the least raunchy but also the most far-reaching in its insights about its witty but directionless characters. Mottola cut his teeth on Undeclared, and Adventureland comes the closest of any film even tangentially related to Apatow Productions to replicate the sense of empathy and reality of that show and its superior predecessor, Freaks and Geeks.
Like most of this new batch of comedies, Adventureland’s central characters come from places of privilege. The movie begins with protagonist, James (Jesse Eisenberg), graduating with a bachelor’s degree in literature and looking forward to both a summer trip around Europe and grad school in Columbia’s prestigious journalism program. But Mottola pulls the rug out from under James when his parents announce that a downturn in financial security makes his summer plans an impossibility and his prospects for Columbia dependent on his ability to pay for it.
Forced to get a menial job, he finds himself at the titular theme park, a dilapidated wreck soon revealed to be rife with other young individuals unsure of where to go. A depressive devotee of Russian literature (Martin Starr) reflects James’ loves and anxieties to an enhanced effect. A guy whose idea of fun consists of punching other dudes in the groin falls on the other end of the intellectual spectrum, but by including someone like him, Mottola erodes any sense of superiority the smarter people might have for ending up in the same place. Most intriguing, though, is Em (Kristen Stewart), the cute, shy girl who instantly becomes James’ love interest.
Soon, though, she becomes much more, as Mottola reveals her character in piecemeal dialogue and glimpses. One of the great thrills of Adventureland is seeing Mottola chip away at the pedestal deliberately but gracefully, bringing out her own insecurities, desires, inchoate dreams and so forth without reducing her to another type of the “wounded bird” variety. The tangled web of platonic and romantic affections that develop between her, James, and another figure, believably replicate the awkward beats of conflicted feelings without casting judgment on anyone. Even James finds himself arguing against some pity thrown his way at one point when he angrily asks why someone shames Em for her dalliance with a married man but not the man himself.
This refusal to play into any easy conclusions (and therefore any reductive views of romance) makes Adventureland one of the great romantic films of the last decade. Its careful, human attention to detail pays off elsewhere, be it the goofy energy brought by Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig as the husband-wife team that owns the park or the the comic purgatory the park represents, with its dreary routines and the torture of “Rock Me Amadeus” playing all day.
The setting is the late-’80s—backed up by an exquisitely selected soundtrack that could have been great programming on a good college station—but the visceral anomie of these over-educated, under-qualified kids slouching toward a sense of purpose should strike more than a few chords for millennials whose degrees signify nothing these days other than crippling debt.
By trading the often hollow improv acrobatics of recent comedies for more scripted conversations, Mottola ironically brings out the spontaneity in his actors, all of whom give some of their best, most piercing work. Yes, even Stewart. This feature tends to just spotlight a great film available on home video, but Adventureland is one of those films that really belongs in a DVD collection. It rewards repeat viewings with new subtleties, a deeper appreciation of the humor, and a greater sense of identification with these characters.
Adventureland is available from the following distributors in the following regions:
Region 1 DVD/Region A Blu-Ray from Miramax: Purchase US DVD Purchase US Blu-Ray Purchase Canada DVD Purchase Canada Blu-Ray
Region 2 DVD/Region B Blu-Ray from Miramax: Purchase UK DVD Purchase UK Blu-Ray
