Adventurelandish; the Movement of the Dramatic Comedy
Written: Apr 06 '09 (Updated Apr 08 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, and its unconventional tone
Cons: a tension between its dramatic and comedic ideas, Tengo's score
The Bottom Line: Adventureland composes itself into what could be a timeless perspective of the young at heart, and director Mottola has managed to capture its tone and feel with much success.
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| commair03's Full Review: Adventureland |
While Adventureland is set in the 80s, there is a timeless quality to Greg Mottola's picture. Whether the film is exploring the fragmentation of the middle class, emphasizing the dysfunctional teenage transformation, depicting post-birds-and-the-bees sexuality or a largely familiar struggle within the job market, the film seems only void of some billion dollar government bailout before the year 2009 becomes its unconventional twin. Mottola, the director who crafted one of the top comedies of 2008, Super Bad, is similarly successful through Adventureland with his attuned style of communicating concise themes to film-goers. As Super Bad illustrated the strength of friendship, Adventureland shows curiosity in the influence of sexuality, and how amongst the development of adulthood, youth can distinguish between the two L’s: love and lust.
James Brennan's (Jesse Eisenberg) father has recently been demoted in his company, the effects are his graduation present to Europe is a-no-go and his fund to attend his Ivy League college has been used for living expenses. With this unprecedented financial dilemma, James can only find himself valuable in the job market at the nearby amusement park, Adventureland. Although working the summer away in the games department initially seems more embarrassing than Bush’s approval rating when he left the oval office, his spirits are quickly awakened when he begins to crush over Em Lewin (Kristin Stewart), another employee of the park.
The wonderful aspect of Adventureland is that Mottola’s characters come to know themselves in a structurally non-linear fashion, each abstractly struggling to locate the sincerity in the various aspects of their existence. Mottola’s style as a director seems more focused and consistent in Adventureland than in his recent film, Super Bad. With the suspension of trite physical gags and immaturely concentrated dialogue, the camera work seems less contrived. Now, to say none of the picture inevitably falls within that category would be untrue. These instances did not overtake the tone of the picture – a maturely-centered seriousness – however, it did cause tension between the comedic and dramatic aspects of the film. The developmental tendency of the picture reveals some inconsistencies in aligning itself within the conventional comedy template.
This is not necessarily all that bad, considering most recent films within the comedy genre only function as imitating – with supposed spontaneity – what has come before them, releasing mostly intolerable, oh-too-terribly-familiar schlock. This dynamic of the film is complex; we are inclined to reward its edge of dramatic maturity, however, feel that its particular tone, from beginning to end, should be more represented. While many aspects are quite serious – James’s parents are illustrated as alienated from their soul, marijuana functions as the gateway to both getting-by and getting-high, and through the mature affair between Em and Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds), an older married man who is the handyman at the park – the film’s yolk seems to slip towards conventional reinforcement of heartfelt-chuckles. Saying that Adventureland has a solid tone – though at times Mottola’s mixture of comedy and drama turns out sour – I feel resolves any question whether the tension between the film’s ideas cost the picture its four star status. From the beginning, something about its look is strikingly authentic, a mixture of new names and old and an alluring plot that transforms the picture unexpectedly, Adventureland became the underdog soon to prevail the disappointments before it. Reeling the audience in is achieved on many dynamics, such as James’s quotes regarding the sonnets of Shakespeare.
Much of Adventureland’s humor comes from the owners of the amusement park, Paulette (Kristen Wiig) and Bobby (Bill Hader). While many businesses are ironically struggling through terrible economic conditions, the creativity of these two bitter-sweet goofballs in finding ways to save money is a machine of laughter, giving Adventureland less of a pale color in the comedy genre.
Something should be noted concerning the film’s tendency to absorb morality at every turn, resulting in its further investment into something more serious than it ought to be. For me, Mottola’s investment in unconventional areas within his dialogue and plot was necessary for his films success. To say that the investment in the musical score was as winning would be the first thing I’ve written that I don’t believe to be true. Yo La Tengo does a fine job capturing the time; however, I question his ability to internalize Mottola’s unconventional tone and perspective. Many dramatic areas of the script are downplayed by insufficient melodies and pulsing backgrounds that fade mostly into white noise. Mottola’s dramatic color of his script is left with an indifferent backdrop of white, his reverent message sometimes merely dancing on the tips of what could be mountains of sound.
Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Method: Press Screening
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Epinions.com ID:
commair03
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Member: DJ Nutter
Location: Austin, TX, United States
Reviews written: 39
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
I'm a Sophomore at Texas State University, majoring in English, minoring in Journalism.
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