Adventureland – Greg Mottolas 2009 film.

Adventureland follows the progression of of James Brennan, a smart and witty guy who everyone can connect to. James is plunged back into a hellhole after his parents lose their jobs and his dream summer holiday is dragged out behind a shed and shot square in the face. He’s faced with an old friend and a job in a crappy amusement park known as “Adventureland.” Oh the joy…

The film is a typical teen rom-com which is a major disappointment coming from the guy who came out with Superbad. The film employed a mediocre cast and an A Lister – Ryan Reynolds. The films main star who portrayed James Brennan was Jesse Eisenberg who is well known for his excentric role in the 2009 flick Zombieland. (His top two films have similar titles!?) and the incredibely awesome Bill Hader who played one of the crazy cops back in Superbad.

"This, is the Flighing Dutchman!"

So, with Ryan Reynolds playing a very small part in the film (He pops up now and again) people expected the film to have the great acting every film hopes for. It doesn’t. Reynolds monotonous acting along side Jessie Eisenbergs typical guy (as seen in Zombieland, let’s see something else next time Jessie!) really does put a nail in the coffin known as Adventureland.

A positive point to raise about the film was the 80′s feel. You had the old cars, the fashion, the crappy disco dancing and an awesome feature of Lou Reeds “Satellite Of Love.” But that isn’t enough to deem this film good. The film is advertised as a comedy yet hardly any comedy occurs in the film. (Or any which appeals to anyone sense of humor. I can imagine Greg Mottola writing the script wetting himself laughing then when someone else reads the script they’re crying of boredom.) I mean yeah, there are some jokes which make you laugh but they come from Bill Hader playing his succesful crazy and slightly weird character or the films debut nerd shouting “****ing sadists! I SAY ****ING SADISTS!” but other than the odd moment the comedy was dry and scabby.

So, to give you readers an overall of the film. With the poor acting and lack of comedy the film really is a disappointment from Greg Mottola and really could be improved. I mean it’s a typical rom-com where the guy meets girl, they argue then they meet up again and have a wonderful night of fun! As a film nerd, I’m getting bored of it! I’d much prefer to see Bill Hader hitting Jessie Eisenberg with a baseball bat than a typial rom-com story line, but maybe that’s just me?

To finish it off, Adventureland scores a magnificent 2/5 on my magnificent star scales.