Basic Plot

Adventureland is about a teenage boy heading off to a prestige college. Unfortunately his parents run dry on money so he must fend for himself by getting a job at an amusement park, as everything else turns him down. This leads to new friends and a new journey through shitty jobs.

In-Depth

The movie starts with our main character, James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg, getting dumped by his week-long girlfriend.
The next scene he's with his parents at dinner discussing his big plans to move to New York with a friend to attend Columbia University. Unfortunately, he finds out his parents are running low on funds, although they previously agreed to pay for his education. He calls place after place in a desperate attempt to find work. If you've seen the trailer, you probably recognize the quote: "What am I supposed to do? I'm not even qualified for manual labor. The only place I know I can get a job is with, uh, Frigo (Matt Bush)."
Tommy Frigo happens to work at Adventureland.

After meeting the two park managers, Bobby (Bill Hader) and Paulette (Kristen Wiig), he begins a tour of the park with Joel (hardly recognizable Martin Starr). Joel shows how most of the games are rip-offs, such as basketball hoops that are oval and a game where you have to knock the hats off the dummies, except most of the hats are glued on. Can't blame 'em. If they enabled cheats for blogs, I'd definitely go for it. No, no I'm only joking.
He emphasizes that nobody ever wins a giant panda stuffed animal, and that if James manages to lose one, he should just quit.
He loses one on his second day. Although it was because he was threatened by knife, so he gets away clean this time.

Now, let me just say something about Bobby: Bobby is hilarious in just about every scene he's in. From over-achieving his lame job , to chasing punks around with baseball bats.

The Cast

James then meets Em (Kristen Stewart), who offers him a ride home. At this point it's clear they have a thing for each other. But what James doesn't know is Bella and Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds) have a thing going on between them. Mainly, Mike uses her for sex in his mothers basement (He was 32 in real life at the time, she was 18 in the movie). When interviewed, he said it made him feel old. I thought it was creepy, as well.

I use this to attract women to my blog and to replace the ones I've lost with Twilight jokes

The next day at the park, we meet Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva), who is the park hottie. I don't really see it, but all the nerds do I guess, which is comforting to know that I am not a nerd by using this as a nerd test. My nerd test is typically "Do nerds and internet geeks thinks she/he is hot?" If 'Yes', Then the true answer is 'No'. Like Megan Fox.
Anyways James and Lisa are introduced and end up going on a few dates later on in the movie, which leads to minor complications.

The major complications come after he tells her about the dates he's been on with Lisa and how he regrets it and only likes her, not directly after, but when James finds out Em has been with Mike.
Joel tells James how dumb he is for messing things up with Em, and ends up quitting his job at Adventureland.
James visits Joels home to discuss things, where we find out how depressing Joel's life is, and it works. I actually felt bad for him.

I feel bad for him, too, because I actually laughed when I saw this

All of this action causes Em to go to school in New York, and obviously quit her job at Adventureland to escape it all.
James finishes his summer job, heads to New York and meets up with Em where they live happily ever after.

With all that being said, let's get to the opinions and small talk. To me, the movie was very slow at first, but around the second half it became much better, and made up for it. The constant nut-shots between Frigo and James were always funny, but that's because I'm a guy that likes to see other people in pain via punch to the minis. That's what I call mine at least. But don't get any wrong ideas, it's one of those ironic things. Like naming your giant dog tiny.

Also, please note, when I say "Bella", it's a reference to a somewhat-known movie known as 'Midnight' or some shit. You know, the one with feminine vampires with sparkly skin.

I was right. Midnight.

The Good

•Familiar Cast fulfilling unique and hilarious roles.
•Quite funny after the first half was over with.
•An expected, but happy ending.

The Bad

•Having to hear Amadeus just about everytime the theme park is shown. The movie is self-aware of this.
•Lots of weed references and recreational use. I find this bad, many will find it good. To each his own.
•I really don't want to mention this again, but since it's the only noticable flaw of the movie, I must say, SLOW FIRST HALF.

The Verdict

The movie was enjoyable, full of funny, and contained material adults, couples, and children could enjoy, as long as your kids can get past the whole weed part, as it's a big part of the movie for some reason. I guess to emphasize how truely boring it is to work at Adventureland. All in all, worth seeing on DVD.

Links

IMDB
Trailer


What's next for Cinema Frolic?
•District 9


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