Sundance Movie Review: Adventureland

Not quite as clever as I had hoped it might be, and not quite the comedy that the early trailers make it out to be, Adventureland is instead it's a very traditional coming of age film with few or no surprises — It's comfortable. But that's not to say that Greg Motolla's follow-up to Superbad doesn't have it's own unique charm. Mottola is able to bring you back to the Summer that you believed could be life changing. In many ways it feels like a film that was made 20 years ago, and because of that has this new-modern classic glow.

I screened this film right before seeing The Informers, and I feel that Adventureland is a much better representation of the 1980's. At least for me. It's extremely relatable, even if you've never worked in a crappy amusement park. Kristen Stewart brings her trademark tics including her overused bit where she nervously can't stop playing with her hair. The soundtrack is killer, featuring the best and worst of the 1980's.

Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig (how much do we love her?) brought some much appreciated comedy, but the addition felt uneven in relation to the rest of the film. But at the end of the day I'm a sucker for these type of films. And even if this film doesn't achieve the greatness that I had hoped it could, it is still a very solid film for the genre./Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10