adventureland

this movie was directed by greg mottola, who directed 'superbad' and from the trailers you could tell that it was being advertised as the next superbad/judd apatow style comedy. thankfully, however, this movie was much different and deeper than those films.

it was still very funny and made me laugh quite a bit, but a large portion of the movie was serious and dealt with the lead character, played by jesse eisenberg, and his questions on what happens in life after college. since it was largely an autobiographical story of director mottola's life as he worked in the adventureland park after he graduated college, i felt there was a certain sincerity that existed in the film that made it seem very authentic and enjoyable to watch.

jesse eisenberg is a great actor. some may consider him a copy-cat of the other successful awkward actor, michael cera (who was in 'superbad'). eisenberg seems to choose better projects however, as 'the squid and the whale' and 'roger doger' were both great indie films that he starred in. he is definitely an actor that whenever he stars in a film, it instantly has my attention, and i make a point to watch it.

being set in a amusement park, this was largely an esemble piece film and the acting from the different workers was all around solid. bill hader and kristen wiig were especially funny, and kristen stewart was cute as eisenberg's love interest. ryan reynolds seems to excel at always playing a jerk. i absolutely loved the show 'freaks and geeks' and it was cool to see martin starr in this movie.

another cool tidbit about this movie which i personally found exciting, was that it was filmed in 'kennywood amusement park' in pittsburgh, pa, which is close to where i live in pennsylvania. i've been to kennywood on countless occasions and it is nice to think that a big movie has now been shot there.

this is a good film, which i recommend to anyone, especially college-aged students. it is much deeper than the ads and trailers billed it as being, and i can imagine a lot of kids being disapointed by how much focus on plot existed over cheap laughs. that being said, i still felt that many funny moments prevent it from being the least bit boring. i really enjoyed this movie.