Quartile rating: 6/10 · 2 ratings
In the summer of 1987, a college graduate takes a 'nowhere' job at his local amusement park, only to find it's the perfect course to get him prepared for the real world.
Adventureland is a quietly charming coming-of-age dramedy with genuine warmth and period atmosphere, but it treads familiar indie-romance territory. The plot is competent but predictable — boy meets girl, obstacles, reconciliation — without many surprises. The acting is solid across the board (Eisenberg, Stewart, and Hader are all effective) but rarely transcendent. Cinematography captures the grimy neon glow of the amusement park well enough without being visually distinguished. Novelty is modest — it has a specific, affectionate 80s voice and avoids broad comedy in favor of something more sincere, which sets it apart slightly from typical coming-of-age fare, but it's not a singular vision. The ending resolves things cleanly but too neatly, undercutting some of the film's more honest emotional work.