Adventureland

107 minutes | Rated R

Greg Mottola—who debuted with The Daytrippers (1996), moved into TV, and recently made a big-screen comeback directing Superbad for Judd Apatow—tries his hand at a Cameron Crowe-style nostalgia piece, set in 80s Pittsburgh and chock-full of tunes by the Replacements, Husker Du, etc. Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) plays a college grad whose plans to tear around Europe all summer and start graduate studies at Columbia University in the fall are derailed by his father's professional downfall; instead, he spends the summer working various game booths at a rundown amusement park, surrounded by hard-partying freaks (among them Martin Starr) and coveting coworker Kristen Stewart (Twilight). Kristen Wiig (typically underutilized) and Bill Hader are the married couple running the park, and Ryan Reynolds is a sort of Fonzie character who claims he once jammed with Lou Reed. Like its models, this 2009 feature is funny, smart, and complacent. By J.R. Jones

Official Site: adventurelandthefilm.com
Director: Greg Mottola
Writer: Greg Mottola
Producer: Anne Carey
Cast: Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader, Martin Starr, Kristen Wiig, Margarita Levieva, Jesse Eisenberg, Josh Pais, Mary Birdsong and Kevin Breznahan