My favorite movie of 2009
As of 10pm of 14 July 2009, my favorite movie of this year is Adventureland.
Written and directed by Greg Mottola (who made our beloved Superbad), Adventureland is a comedy in the midst of disappointment, anger, and sadness. It should be a massive bummer, but it’s not. Set in 1987, it follows James (Jesse Eisenberg from our beloved The Squid and The Whale), a new comparative lit graduate from Oberlin who has long planned to leave Pittsburgh and take his master’s at Columbia. Then his parents announce that they can no longer afford to send him to New York or pay for his vacation in Europe. Suddenly he has to get a summer job, and the only one he can get despite his sterling academic record is at a fifth-rate amusement park called Adventureland. There he dispenses crappy prizes (the big-ass panda no one can win, the stuffed bananas with googly eyes), meets an assortment of underdogs and outcasts (the pipe-smoking Russian and Slavic languages major, the maintenance guy who claims to have jammed with Lou Reed), and a tough, beautiful girl named Em (played by Kristen Stewart of Twilight, who is too good for Twilight).
I’m watching the press preview thinking, Who are these people? Why are they wearing my old clothes, listening to my favorite bummer music, and staying up till dawn for no reason whatsoever? These characters are deeply likable because they are deeply flawed and they know it. James is self-absorbed and more than a little pretentious (reading Quiet Days In Clichy by the ring-toss game), Em hates her stepmother but punishes herself, even Connell the mechanic (Ryan Reynolds) sees how ridiculous he really is. As in Superbad, Mottola looks upon his losers with pity and kindness; maybe there’s no hope for them, but there will be laughter.
Adventureland reminds us of the power of pop music to encapsulate a moment in stunning detail. They’re in the car, our hero looks at the girl he just met, Lou Reed is singing Pale Blue Eyes, and everything is perfect. On a crappy day at the sad little amusement park, they’re watching the Fourth of July fireworks when Don’t Dream It’s Over by Crowded House comes on, and I will smack anyone who sings that “Hey now, hey now” chorus, but I actually feel my throat tighten up. Later, on the bus, in the rain, The Replacements sum it all up with Unsatisfied. It’s wonderful.
True, maybe I love this movie because it reminds me of Say Anything, another movie with a Replacements song. And because I was an unemployed comparative lit major who had long planned to get out of here.
Adventureland opens on July 22 at Greenbelt 3 and Glorietta 4.
*****
Movies I remembered after seeing Adventureland: Superbad, The Squid and The Whale, Roger Dodger, Margot At The Wedding, Say Anything, and this Australian movie from the early 90s, Flirting.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 15th, 2009 at 05:06
woohoo! after 3 years, i may finally watch another movie.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:38
I’ve been dying to watch this movie for months. Been looking for pirated DVDs – no dice. Thank God for Glorietta and Greenbelt. There are other cinemas in Metro Manila, right? Or are they called “Transformers” viewing areas now?
July 15th, 2009 at 23:56
I’m catching this…along with “Public Enemies” on the 22nd
July 16th, 2009 at 03:39
I wish I could say I enjoyed the film as much as you did, JZ. Maybe because the film echoed similar themes as Jonathan Levine’s The Wackness, which was released a few months prior to this one when I got to check it out. I was left with romantic angst burnout as a result.
I can’t wait to see Kristen Stewart take on the role of Joan Jett on that Runaways biopic though. See some of the photos at the link below.
http://www.movie-moron.com/?p=7552
Oh, and I’m also glad that you mentioned The Replacements. The Goo Goo Dolls parlayed a career ripping off The Mats. Paul Westerberg at least deserves a cut of the royalties to Name and that other ballad off that dumb Nick Cage film. I read something from a while back that the reason The Replacements wasn’t as popular in The Philippines back in the day was because one of Jingle Magazine’s critics didn’t like their sound and wrote about it. Somehow that assessment stuck with the local punks who didn’t know better or judge the music for themselves.
July 16th, 2009 at 09:59
this movie kinda reminds me of Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.
July 17th, 2009 at 01:19
Frigo-move on Lisa P. = Awesome!
July 24th, 2009 at 11:06
hey, i went to see this movie bcs of ur glowing recommendation, and i rly, rly, rly, loved it! it was awesome! dunno abt a pervy ryan reynolds (still can’t see why he was cast for the part), but i loved everything else abt it, even the soundtrack!