Adventureland review

Adventureland is a bittersweet tale of growing up and the lessons learned through life experience in the most unexpected place, a tacky theme park. The main character, James, is a college graduate who has plans to travel Europe during summer and then study at one of the Ivy League schools in NY. His hopes are dashed when his parents cannot fund him and he takes a summer job at Adventureland, a local amusement park, to cover his college fees. The job is spectacularly uninspiring and littered with bizzare characters but he falls for a smart and sexy young co-worker, played by Twilight's Kirsten Stewart, and the ups and downs of life and love follow. The film is quirky and slightly offbeat, which I quite liked, but there is a sense of realism at the same time. The cast are strong and the script is smart and thoughtful, helping the film rise above your average teen film. It's not a comedy but there quite a few funny moments, often delivered by the more bizzare or geeky characters. For some reason the film is set in 1987, but it is still relevant to this generation of young people. Most of the characters are white middle class Amercians and they are a bit lost, confused and rootless. They find their identity and comfort very much through the pop music culture, drugs, alcohol, and sex. I can identify with this to some extent. We have all done daft things when we were that age but personally I had my family, friends and faith to fall back on and keep me grounded. The characters in this film don't have that. This is not a judgement on them, many of them have good intentions and potential, but there is the sense that they have drifted into a sort of spiritual vacuum. Late teens is hard enough at the best of times but without a strong family background it becomes all the harder. Adventureland reminded me a bit of The Rules of Atrraction, but it is not as nihilistic or bleak. The film is set in 1987 and I guess the characters would be in their early forties by now. I'm not looking for a sequel but it would be interesting to see where they have ended up. 7/10