Adventureland (film)

Adventureland
Film poster
Directed by	Greg Mottola
Written by	Greg Mottola
Produced by	Sidney Kimmel Anne Carey Ted Hope
Starring	Jesse Eisenberg Kristen Stewart Ryan Reynolds Martin Starr Bill Hader Kristen Wiig
Cinematography	Terry Stacey
Edited by	Anne McCabe
Music by	Yo La Tengo
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date	April 3, 2009
Running time	107 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
Language	English
Box office	$16,044,025 (US box office)

Adventureland is a 2009 comedy-drama film written and directed by Greg Mottola director of Superbad. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, and Kristen Wiig.

Plot

It is the summer of 1987 and James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) has just graduated with a comparative literature major from Oberlin College. He is looking forward to touring Europe for the summer and going to Columbia University to study journalism in graduate school when his parents (Wendie Malick and Jack Gilpin) announce that they won't be able help him financially and he will have to get a summer job.

James tries to get a job but all he can find is Adventureland, a local amusement park in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is hired immediately by Bobby (Bill Hader), the manager, who puts him on games. That day he meets some of his co-workers; the dry and sarcastic Joel (Martin Starr), Frigo (Matt Bush), a former best friend who constantly punches James in the testicles, Sue O'Malley (Paige Howard), Mark (Mark Miller), Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva), and the park's repairs technician Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds) who is a part time musician and claims to have once played a gig with Lou Reed.

James meets another games worker Emily "Em" Lewin (Kristen Stewart) after she saves him from being knifed by a disgruntled customer. The day after, she invites him to a party at her house. During the party, Em invites him to join her in the pool. After the party ends, it's revealed that Em has been having an affair with Connell, despite his being married. James goes out to a bar for a drink with Em, and while they are talking at the bar, Em is surprised to learn James is still a virgin. Connell arrives at the bar and Em wants to leave, so they go to a local river where James kisses her. The following day, James tells Connell about his strong feelings for Em which Connell later repeats to Em. Em later tells James she wants to take it slow.

The next morning, Lisa P. asks James out on a date, but only lets a few people know. After James returns from his date, James learns Em had called to tell him that she regrets having told him off on their past date. James gives Em some of his marijuana to bake "pot cookies" to cheer her up. During the Fourth of July, after a pot induced game-playing streak, Joel is attacked by an angry customer who learns the games are rigged. When Em steps in, the customer pushes her and James defends her by punching him in the testicles. The customer's friend is then scared off by Bobby. Em tells James that she doesn't want to lose him.

Joel sees them walking together and decides to quit. James tries to talk him out of it but Joel is angry at James for dating Lisa P. when he already loves Em. James wants to be honest and tells Em about the night he went out with Lisa P. Shocked by his honesty, Em goes to Connell's house that night to end their affair. The park's parking official tells James he saw Em and Connell having sex in the back of Connell's car a few weeks earlier. James goes to Connell's house and sees Em leaving, having just broken up with Connell. Angered by her betrayal, James breaks up with Em and later tells Lisa P. about the affair but asks her not to tell anyone.

Lisa P. soon tells everybody in the park and Em quits. James, heartbroken over the break-up, gets drunk and crashes his dad's car into a tree before passing out. The next morning, his mother wakes him up and tells him that he has to pay to fix all the damage. After getting his last paycheck, Connell tells James that he has not spoken to Em since they broke up. James doesn't have enough money to go to graduate school, but heads for New York anyway. In New York City, James finds Em and waits for her outside her apartment. She's surprised to see James waiting for her and is reluctant to talk to him, feeling she had ruined everything between them. James tells her that he sees her in a different way than she sees herself, telling her that he sees the girl who saved him from getting knifed, the girl who stood up for Joel, the girl who introduced him to psychotropic cookies, and the girl who doesn't make apologies for herself. Touched, Em brings James up to her apartment. Once up there, James gets out of his wet clothes, and finds she still has an Adventureland shirt. They kiss and begin to take their clothes off as the film ends.

Cast and Characters

• Jesse Eisenberg as James Brennan - A post-graduate student and aspiring journalist who has to get a summer job so he can afford to go to Columbia University in New York. The only job he can get is in the games at the Adventureland theme park. He is a devout listener of 80's alternative rock. Throughout his summer working in Adventureland, Brennan develops a relationship with his co-worker, Em Lewin.
• Kristen Stewart as Emily "Em" Lewin - One of James' Adventureland co-worker and love interest. She has a troubled home life, she hates her manipulative stepmother and resents her father for remarrying so soon after her mothers death from cancer. She is a student at NYU but her father is a rich lawyer and she works games in Adventureland even though she doesn't need to, mostly as a reason to get out of the house. She is secretly having an affair with the park's mechanic, Mike Connell, but eventually calls it off, and quits Adventureland after her affair becomes public knowledge.
• Ryan Reynolds as Mike Connell - The park's mechanic, married to a woman called Ronnie. He is also a part time musician who claims to have played a gig with Lou Reed. Through slips in his musical knowledge it becomes apparent to James this is not true. Since the beginning of his marriage, he had cheated on his wife with different girls and by the beginning of the story, with Em.
• Martin Starr as Joel - One of James' co-workers at the games in Adventureland and James' friend in the summer. A college graduate in Russian literature, a degree which he claims will get him a job as a "hot dog stand operator or a cabbie in NYC". He eventually quits the park after getting beaten up by a disgruntled customer and leaves Pittsburgh to head for an undisclosed location.
• Matt Bush as Tommy Frigo - A former best friend of James' from their childhood. He constantly teases James and hits him in the testicles, but despite this James considers him a friend. By the end of the story, as he is saying goodbye to his friends James hits Frigo in the testicles first for once, before heading off to New York.
• Margarita Levieva as Lisa P. - One of the rides operators at the Adventureland park. A seductive girl whom all the park's employees are attracted to. She invites James out on a date, but he leaves her to go back with Em. She eventually tells everyone at the park when she discovers that Em was having an affair with Connell.
• Bill Hader as Bobby - The eccentric owner of Adventureland, who is living his dream of owning a theme park. He is extremely intolerant of people who litter but is very supportive of his employees and caring for his wife.
• Kristen Wiig as Paulette - Bobby's wife and co-operator of Adventureland. She is often as eccentric as her husband but is much more quiet and proves to have some symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Mary Birdsong as Francy - Em's stepmother. She married Em's father shortly after the death of Em's mother. She lost her hair from the stress of a nervous breakdown after her first divorce and wears a wig.

Production

Adventureland was filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2007, with most scenes shot in Kennywood, a historic amusement park in nearby West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. The theme park from the film is based on the Farmingdale, New York amusement park Adventureland where Mottola worked in the 1980s.

Marketing

One of poster for Adventureland draws attention to director Greg Mottola's previous work Superbad putting it prominently at the top of the poster. and the trailer rather than presenting it as a coming of age love story, with comedy elements included many jokes from the film setting up audience to expect "more goofy comedy and less of a good story". Despite liking the film the reviewer was critical that "Studio marketing has unfairly hurt the word of mouth on this little movie." and even turned the intended away from the film. Movie marketing madness also how the poster emphasised the connection to Superbad, an earlier tshirt style poster not including quite so prominently as the later poster.

Reception

Adventureland has received critical praise with 88% on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. In its first week at the box office Adventureland opened moderately wide in only 1862 screens grossing 5.7 million ranking #6 at the box office. Despite opening up in fourteen more screens in its second week Adventureland only took in 3.4 million, falling to #9 at the box office. The film concluded its U.S. domestic run on May 28, 2009 with a gross of $16,044,025.

Soundtrack

A total of 41 songs were licensed for use in the film. The soundtrack includes 14 songs and was released on April 1, 2009. The songs included are from the 1980s, to fit with the setting of the film.

Adventureland - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Satellite of Love"	Lou Reed
2.	"Modern Love"	David Bowie
3.	"I'm in Love with a Girl"	Big Star
4.	"Just Like Heaven"	The Cure
5.	"Rock Me Amadeus"	Falco
6.	"Don't Change"	INXS
7.	"Your Love"	The Outfield
8.	"Don't Dream It's Over"	Crowded House
9.	"Looking for a Kiss"	The New York Dolls
10.	"Don't Want to Know if You Are Lonely"	Husker Do
11.	"Unsatisfied"	The Replacements
12.	"Pale Blue Eyes"	The Velvet Underground
13.	"Farewell Adventureland"	Yo La Tengo
14.	"Adventureland Theme Song"	Brian Kenney

A selection of the songs not included on the album:

"Here She Comes Now" by The Velvet Underground - plays during the opening credits
"Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest
"Taste of Cindy (acoustic version)" by The Jesus and Mary Chain
"Limelight" by Rush - Munch, one of the games workers, does a poor rendition in an attempt to impress Em, also included in the trailer.
"Bastards of Young" by The Replacements - opening sequence
"Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake
"Dance Hall Days" by Wang Chung
"Blister in the Sun" by Violent Femmes - used in the trailer

The scenes for these songs can be found at what-song .

Home video

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 25, 2009 with unrated bonus features.

External links

• Adventureland Template:Offical
• Adventureland at IMDb
• Adventureland at Rotten Tomatoes
• Adventureland at AllMovie
• Adventureland at Box Office Mojo