Adventureland: Which Pieces are Missing?
Directed by Greg Mottola, Starring Kristen Stewart
Oct 30, 2009
Adventureland has most of the elements of a legitimate independent flick - realistically awkward characters, and a true-to-life rambling storyline. It's missing a few key ingredients though, the most important being a wise or poignant end to the story.
Adventureland Falls Short in Comparison
It is a coming of age story, sure. It has themes of love and exploration and redefining dreams. There are sweet, recognizable moments, some sad realizations, and a quietly happy ending. But it never quite comes together, never reaches for the level of honesty that many indie films have achieved.
Take, for instance, Into the Wild, also starring Kristen Stewart. While it does not preach, the story is never vague. The insights are sharp and fresh. Every member of the cast brings a sensitive eye to the role, and no one emerges halfhearted. At the end of the movie, audience members feel that they, too, have been on a brave journey into the unknown. They, too, have created a family for themselves when the first one was insufficient. They too have felt friendships born of shared experience and vulnerability.
Where is the passion in Adventureland? Where is the pain? Where are the moments which make one feel deeply connected to the characters onscreen? Most importantly, where is the sense of life unexplored? Even at its best, this film treads upon long-familiar ground.
Jesse Eisenberg Tries on a Lead Role...
The hero in this story is the now-cliche image of the awkward, wistful thinker who is just barely beginning to grow into his cool. Eisenberg is no stranger to this character, having appeared in a similar (perhaps more angst-filled) version in The Squid and the Whale.
Though Eisenberg is an undoubtedly talented actor, something about this performance never clicks for him, and he ends up merely adding to the already vague quality of this story. There is never much emotion from him here, even during the scenes of burgeoning possibility between his character and Kristen Stewart's.
...But Kristen Stewart Steals Every Scene
Were it not for Stewart, the movie might have collapsed entirely. She manages to bring some life back into it, and some honest emotion into their romance. This movie is written in fairly typical formula: Stewart is meant to play the dark and brooding damsel to Eisenberg's emerging hero, and she plays her part well enough to make every male in the audience fall a little in love with her.
This Is Certainly No Superbad
As the follow up to Superbad for director Greg Mottola, Adventureland is surprising in more ways than one. The biggest change from Mottola is that he also wrote Adventureland instead of simply directing, and the story is said to be semi-autobiographical for him. While Adventureland is admittedly a much darker movie than Superbad, comparisons are inevitable for fans of the much-loved teen comedy. And Mottola's work on it was exactly what it should be - the story flowed effortlessly, the banter was seamless, and the tone was pretty close to perfect.
Of course, this is not to say that Mottola should have duplicated his work on Superbad. He should certainly be credited for striking out in a new direction, and for what he did achieve on Adventureland: a sweet funny story with moments of reality peeking through.
