Any film with Ryan Reynolds is a given. Eisenberg for Superman!

Adventureland – Greg Mottola

Jesse Eisenberg is a hero of mine. And with heroes, i can’t really say anything bad about them. And luckily, there is nothing bad to say about him, his acting, his career and especially this film, as it’s really great. It’s a lovely summer film, with an iconic soundtrack, a great cast and some really funny scenes. Maybe the inclusion of K-Stew or Kristen Stewart will want to rip your eyes out of your socket, but surprisingly she isn’t as annoying here then when she’s gallivanting in a fucking forest with that Pattinson lad. Here she kinda owns it a little. But when the cast around you are Eisenberg, Bill Hader, Kristin Wiig and mother fucking Dead Pool himself, Ryan Reynolds, its hard not to be funny. It’s gonna be in the air most of the time. I loved Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Parlour on Trouble, and Reynolds was fucking funny. I grew up with him. And then starred in amazing films like Blade 3, Van Wilder, Waiting, Just Friends, Smoking Aces, The Nines, Defiantly, Maybe, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and filming at the moment, The Green Lantern, sure, it sounds like a shit career, but i loved like 90% of those. I respect the man, he married Scarlett Johansson for fuck sake, and the dude deserves credit.

Set in 1987, it follows Eisenberg’s character, James Brennan, after graduating from college and finding that he wants to go to Europe and then University, he finds a summer job at Adventureland, the local amusement park owned by Hader and Wiig. There he meets Kristen Stewart’s character and they instantly have a connection of being wandering lonely souls who are stuck in a shit town. Throw in Ryan Reynolds, a local player on the amusement park who sleeps with pretty much anyone, and the relationship of Reynolds and Stewart is teased in front of Eisenberg and really, just little scenes that are sometimes funny, sometimes romantic occur. It’s a decent film, with a decent plot, we’ve seen it before, but it’s the way the characters act and the interactions that make this film what it is. The soundtrack as well is very memorable, and the older audiences will defiantly recognise some of the hits.

Overall, it’s a good summer film, it has set pieces that will make you smile, and think of the summers you’ve had, chasing the girl or guy of your dreams, listening to certain songs or albums, going to parties meeting new people, drinking copious amounts of booze, wearing shorts and snazzy new t-shirts and wearing sunglasses all the time and my favourite, having most of the time you scratching your body because of either having hay fever or you’ve been rolling around in the grass. Yes, a summer of wonderful fucking times. The stereotype of the summer. Why don’t they show a real summer, most of the time too hot or raining, staying inside, not being able to sleep because of the heat, no more roast dinners, too poor to go out. It’s really lame.

6/10

Simon Childs