Adventureland: Fear And Loathing In Western Pennsylvania

Adventureland: Fear And Loathing In Western Pennsylvania

“Would you mind telling me then what those four years of college were for? What was the point of all that hard work?”
-- Mr. Braddock from The Graduate

“What I used to able to pass off as a bad summer could now potentially turn into a bad life.”
-- Max from Kicking and Screaming (1995)

“We are doing the work of pathetic, lazy morons.”
--Joel from Adventureland

The brutality emerging of adulthood is at the core of Greg Mottola’s Adventureland.

It is one of the most intensely honest coming of age of tales since Mike Nichols’ The Graduate. Mr. Mottola is able to recreate the very essence of life in 1987 in every gritty detail just as George Lucas was able to do for the 1960’s in American Graffiti and Richard Linklater was able to do for the 1970’s in Dazed And Confused. The film takes place in Pennsylvania during the summer of 1987. The film is able to capture the feeling, mood and look of the time perfectly. The references of the time are on full display, but never in a way to make those of us who grew up during that time feel any nostalgia. If there is one thing Mr. Mottola knows that, it is nostalgia is cruel bitch and the past is more pain than pleasure. Sadly, Adventureland has been poorly marketed. William Goldman was very right when he said “Nobody knows anything” in Hollywood. Adventureland is being sold as a romantic comedy, and while certainly there is romance to be found in the film, it is not that kind of comedy. It is a very brutal and honest film about growing up. It is the ultimate coming of age film. Certainly this film is being sold under the Judd Apatow banner because of Greg Mottola’s previous, Superbad which starred Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Seth Rogen and Bill Hader. Superbad is a wonderfully funny film. It harks back to the great subversive comedies that Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis used to write and direct. The films that are associated with or influenced by Judd Apatow are wonderfully, well done comedies. Just look at the recent I Love You, Man with Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. The film may be the funniest romantic comedy in years and it is really a “bromance.” The film is a celebration of male bonding at its most fun.Adventureland is different. Do not get me wrong, there is humor to be found, but it more honest and painful than most would expect. The film’s tone reminds me more of Mr. Mottola’s first film, The Daytrippers than it does of Superbad. The film’s brutal honesty reminds me of David O. Russell’s Spanking The Monkey, Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy, Noah Baumbach’s The Squid And The Whale, Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums, Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous and especially Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love. Certainly those films have elements of humor, but there is a level of honesty and authenticity to which all can relate. Even within the laughter, there is a level of pain that can be felt because it is so sincere. The film is more cerebral than most of the films which fall under the Apatow banner. Judd Apatow may be the logical heir to John Hughes. John Hughes’ influence can felt on many films since the 1980’s. Adventureland is a different beast entirely.

Yet, of all the coming of age films over the decades, this one feels like the true heir apparent to The Graduate. Jesse Eisenberg’s James Brennan, is not that different from Dustin Hoffman’s Ben Braddock. They may live in different time periods, but their desires and anxieties are the same. Both men are fresh out of college with their whole lives ahead of them. The uncertain future tugs away at the souls of both young men. It is to Mr. Mottola’s credit that he has made a film that pays homage to past great coming of age films using his particular wit and style. As the film opens, James has been dumped by his girlfriend of eleven days, graduated from college and has been informed by his parents that they do not have the money for his graduation present, a summer trip to Europe with his best friend. They also inform him that Graduate School at the Columbia School of Journalism is out of the question as well unless he gets a summer job to pay for his education. His parents are played by the wonderful character actors Jack Gilpin and Wendie Malick. His father was demoted at work and will not be making as much money as he once did. They suggest to James that he get a summer job. James is crushed that he cannot go to Europe with his room mate. He moves back home to Western Pennsylvania which might as well be the Gulag as far as he is concerned. He instead must get a job and quickly finds out that he is not even qualified for “manual labor.” The last resort is a job at Adventureland, an amusement park which is a really a stand-in for “the Island Of Misfit Toys.” His childhood friend, Tommy Frigo (Matt Bush) works there and this is the last resort for any kind of income that could be used for graduate school. The sad thing is that James has gotten into the school, but his parents are no longer able to afford the Ivy League education. This is the summer of 1987 and the Stock Market Crash did not happen until October of that year, but a lot of the economic anxiety of that time resonates today. His father has been essentially downsized at his job. Adventureland is not so much a summer job, but a sense of limbo for the twenty somethings who work there along with James. It is purgatory for Generation X. It is a metaphor for every dead-end retail job all of us have had to endure at some point in our lives. Sometimes, we do not know when to leave and we fear we may become lifers. There is Joel (Martin Starr), an extremely intelligent and literate character who should not be working at Adventureland. He has an affection for Gogol and enjoys smoking a pipe. There is Frigo who has known James since they were kids and enjoys punching James in the balls. The amusement park is run by Bobby and Paulette played by Saturday Night Live regulars Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. They are the film’s funniest characters. Bill Hader is as good as gold in every film he is in. Like Paul Rudd, he has a natural ability to shine in every role and make us laugh. Kristen Wiig is something else altogether. She stole the show in Ghost Town and is delightful on Saturday Night Live. Watching her as Paulette, one has to wonder if she is the Gilda Radner of her generation. Both SNL actors should have been used more in the film. Bill Hader and Martin Starr are the two Judd Apatow regulars who appear in the film, but that is where the Apatow connection ends.

Jesse Eisenberg is no stranger to this role. He mined this territory before in such gems as Roger Dodger and The Squid And The Whale. With this film, he becomes the thinking man’s Michael Cera. Michael Cera is a good actor in films like Superbad, Juno and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. He was terrific on the television show, Arrested Development. Still, he has gotten typecast. The same could almost be said of Jesse Eisenberg, but what he does with James sets him apart from the other actors of his generation. James is vulnerable and he wears it on his sleeve as well as his heart. He is a blabbermouth to put it mildly. He cannot keep quiet and says the wrong things to the wrong people throughout the film. His mouth gets him into a lot of trouble. He is a virgin, well-mannered and way too truthful for his own good. While some have suggested that he is like a young Woody Allen in this film, I beg to differ. He reminds more of a cross between Dustin Hoffman’s Ben Braddock in The Graduate and Jeremy Davies’ Ray Aibelli in David O. Russell’s Spanking The Monkey. The trouble comes in the form of two women who work at the park: Em Lewin played by Twilight’s Kristen Stewart and Lisa P. played by Margarita Levieva. James is immediately smitten with Em, who saves his back as he about to be attacked by a dishonest patron with a knife who wants a giant stuffed Panda Bear he has not won. Mary P.’s return to Adventureland excites all the male employees. She is a Madonna wannabe with her clothes and her dance moves at the Musik Express, but Madonna is never mentioned by name. When he befriends Em, it opens a world of possibilities for him. There is an attraction between the two of them. Stewart is a real revelation as Em. It is amazing how the film is as much her story as it is James’ story. She has natural chemistry with Eisenberg. Sadly, she may always be known as Bella from Twilight and its sequels, but we forget what a great actress she really is. She was wonderful as Tracy Tatro in Sean Penn’s Into The Wild. Em has huge problems of her own. Her father remarried shortly after her mother passed away from cancer. Her mother had lost all of her hair from chemotherapy and the father went and found another bald woman to marry. Em is having an affair with Ryan Reynolds’ Connell; he is the park mechanic and something of a legend among the workers. He is the resident stud who really may be as vulnerable as James. Connell is married, but has affairs with a female staff member every summer. He sleeps with them in his Mom’s basement. For Ryan Reynolds, Connell may be his richest part yet. As an actor, he is growing on me with his roles in Smokin’ Aces, Definitely, Maybe and The Nines, but he seems perfect as Connell. As for James, his predicament gets worst as he goes on a date with Lisa P., after Em says she has too much going on in her life. James reminds me of Patrick Wilson’s Brad Adamson in Little Children. Brad is married to Jennifer Connelly’s Kathy, but having an affair with Kate Winslet’s Sarah Pierce. James does not help matters by confiding in Connell about his romantic problems.

The myth of adulthood is a constant theme in the films of Judd Apatow and the films of Wes Anderson. Even the adults in these films do not act like adults. Adulthood is this mythical place which no one has found yet. The films might speak to a deeper theme in American life where adult behavior has been absent in politics and business over the last several decades. In Adventureland, the landscape is shaped by an adulthood that has few standouts to respect. Em and James fathers are both failures as human beings-- their children cannot respect them. James’ father is a victim of demotion and turns to alcoholism. Em’s father is excrement in the human form. Connell is as childish as the twenty something employees that look up to him. Bobby and Paulette are the closest thing to responsible role models in the whole film. They are the only truly happy people in the film. Em and James have no one to look up to for advice or guidance. Both of them, along with Joel, are overqualified for their jobs. If Dante Hicks was not supposed to be at the Quickstop that day in Clerks, then none of them are supposed to be even working there in the first place. The job may be crap, but they endure it and they become friends. Greg Mottola gets this right as well. These jobs are the worst, but the friendships you make may very well last a lifetime. The people make the experience worthwhile. They are very much like the twenty something characters in Noah Baumbach’s Kicking And Screaming trying to find themselves after college. The other thing that Mottola does very well is his use of music from that time. He, like Cameron Crowe, knows when and where to use music: Husker Du, Lou Reed, David Bowie, The Replacements, Crowded House, Judas Priest, The Cure and many others. In fact, the film’s use of Judas Priest’s “Breaking The Law” is priceless.

Greg Mottola’s Adventureland is an imaginative gem. It is Mr. Mottola’s masterpiece. I am taking his brilliant debut, The Daytrippers, into consideration when I say this. For a film as poorly marketed as Adventureland, one hopes it finds an audience through good word of mouth and when it is released on DVD. The film never sacrifices its tenderness for cheap laughs. Its humor is cunning rather than obvious. Minor characters, who in other films would have been nothing more than clichés and stereotypes, are given the opportunity to surprise and enlighten at the most unexpected times. The film gets everything right-- not just the Eighties itself. The references are there in music, Ronald Reagan’s Speech on the Iran Contra Affair, James’ mother reading Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire Of The Vanities, various video arcade games and the various clothing styles that punctuate the era. Mottola has all the details of the era down to perfection. It is how he has made a coming of age film that seems familiar, but at the same time feels fresh and original. He does not make us miss our youth, but he makes us think long and hard about it. The film makes us feel awkward and uncomfortable as if we are watching an embarrassing home movie. At the end of the film, there is a certain feeling that we do not have to be in limbo forever. The film is honest in its emotions and rarely strikes a false note. The characters are empathetic and relatable. The film, like its main character, wears its heart on its sleeve. In a time where there is so much uncertainty, a lot of heart is never a bad thing. Adventureland’s brutal honesty and sincerity go a long way in making it one of the best coming of age films I have seen in many years.