Military Movies - Military Times

When life was an adventure

Greg Mottola made his big-league directorial debut with one of the most uproariously raunchy comedies of the millennium (“Superbad”), which ensured that his sophomore effort would draw heavy scrutiny.

He chose to deal with this by setting a comparatively modest goal — and then nailing it in every way that counts, drawing on his own youthful job-from-hell experiences to not only direct but also write the charming, low-key comedy “Adventureland.”

Mottola’s stand-in is James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg), an uptight recent college grad who has somehow kept his “scarlet V” intact. Now he’s looking forward to a summer tour of Europe with two pals, followed by graduate studies at Columbia University in the Big Apple.

But that plan hits the rocks when his dad gets downgraded at work and the parental money spigot dries up. James is forced to seek a summer job, but as a Renaissance studies major who admits to reading poetry for pleasure, he finds that he isn’t even qualified for manual labor.

“Unless somebody wants help restoring a fresco, I’m [bleeped],” he glumly notes.

And so it is that he finds himself at the low-rent, rattletrap amusement park of the title, working on the lowest rung of the ladder (in “games,” as opposed to the more prestigious “rides”).

In a loose, slice-of-life style brimming with authentic period details (the film is set in 1987), James gets to know his offbeat compatriots while dealing with giant stuffed pandas, rudely belligerent dads and cranky kids hopped up on cotton candy.

His co-workers include Bobby (Bill Hader), the strict but benevolent park manager; gangly Joel (Martin Starr), a Gogol-reading, pipe-smoking nerd with a Prince Valiant hairdo; excitable Frigo (Matt Bush), who is 22 going on 6 and loves to sucker-punch James in the nads; sexy Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva), the self-anointed hottest girl on the staff; and mysterious Connell (Ryan Reynolds), the park mechanic and moonlighting musician who is rumored to have once jammed with Lou Reed.

Consuming most of James’ attention, however, is the way-cute, sleepy-eyed, sharp-tongued Em Lewin (Kristen Stewart), who takes an instant liking to him that could become something more, if only she can sort out some hefty personal baggage.

Their tentative relationship becomes the centerpiece of the story. Eisenberg (“The Squid and the Whale”) and Stewart (the rising star of the “Twilight” phenomenon who will portray rock goddess Joan Jett in next year’s “Runaways”) deftly make you care about their characters — so when their story ends up in a not wholly unexpected place, it feels mighty satisfying anyway.

As much as he’s invested in his story, Mottola is also looking to tap a specific vein of nostalgia. And although the film is set in 1987, the vibe is timeless.

It’s nostalgia for the kind of youthful moment in which you sat close to someone you were still getting to know but were already fool-crazy about, buzzing on the jangly knot of nervous expectation in your stomach, watching fireworks with a bunch of friends on a summer night rich with possibilities and wondering if life might ever again feel so confusing, complicated, intense and sweet, all at the same time.

If you know that kind of feeling, the engaging slice of life that is “Adventureland” will leave you with a warm, wistful glow.

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Rated R for drug and alcohol use, language, sexual situations. Got a rant or rave about the movies? E-mail cvinch@atpco.com.