“The director of Superbad grows up with an engaging movie about young love, crappy amusement parks and the listless days of summer.” — Salon.com. With Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds. Great 80s soundtrack.
The director of Superbad grows up with an engaging movie about young love, crappy amusement parks and the listless days of summer.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2009
Adventureland 2009
Showing a keen affinity for the embarrassment of his own formative years, filmmaker Greg Mottola brings back the 80s and makes a coming-of-age comedy with real feeling.
“As in Superbad and The Daytrippers, director Greg Mottola plows the salted fields of conventional movieland comedy – in this case that means hormone-crazed youth, summer jobs, an amusement park – and comes up with something startlingly fresh and amazingly unstupid. An absolutely note-perfect rendering of early-80s nowheresville boredom, great lead performances by Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart and an irresistible supporting cast of convincing suburban archetypes. You'll believe you were there – and quite possibly you were.” — Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
“The 80s, at least at the time, appeared drenched in irony... It's Mottola's funny and touching inspiration to look back and see how unself-conscious the decade now seems.” — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly