Meditations on loss both literal and figurative, the haunting yet humanistic films of Academy Award nominated writer-director Atom Egoyan are hard to shake.
As an audience of Alices ― in each puzzle-like picture we tumble through the rabbit hole ― landing headfirst in a contemporary but illusive Egoyan wonderland where we're quick to discover that nothing is as it seems.
Illuminating if ultimately unsettling, from The Sweet Hereafter to Felicia's Journey and beyond, Egoyan has spent his career holding up a microscope to the dangers that exist just below the surface of a world where smiles hide secrets and (much like objects in the rearview mirror) evil may be closer than it appears.
As the years go by, in Egoyan's latest aptly named effort The Captive, a heartbroken father played by Ryan Reynolds finds himself unable to look ahead ― literally and figuratively trapped in the past ― after discovering with a glance in his rearview that his nine year old daughter had vanished from sight.
Moving back and forth from past to present and in point-of-view, The Captive's maze-like narrative approach initially infuriates more than it fascinates.
Requiring us to figure out where each piece fits along the timeline while we struggle to process each scene ― we're introduced to multiple parties held captive by the same horrific moment, beginning with the kidnapped girl (who’s now an adult) as well as her captor who for years has been hiding in plain sight of both her parents and the police.
With this in mind it's no wonder that when the film screened at the Cannes Film Festival for its Palme d'Or qualifying showing, Egoyan's opus appeared under a title that emphasized the plural nature of its theme (as Un Captives) to better illustrate the grief of all involved.
Yet while it works either way, the singular name change suits the film well in not only ratcheting up the tension and immediacy but also by encouraging greater critical thinking on the part of the audience as we evaluate each captive one by one.
As a modern disciple of Hitchcock whose experimentation with the role of the viewer as voyeur has overwhelmed the Egyptian-born Canadian filmmaker's work since his American arthouse crossover hit Exotica roughly twenty years ago, Egoyan is clever enough to understand that in suspenseful storytelling, the true power comes from what isn't shown vs. what is visualized.
And this is especially imperative given the delicate subject matter of Captive which, to both the film as well as Egoyan's credit, feels far less exploitative than a typical episode of network television police procedural series.
Revisiting the same terrain he's explored throughout his undeniably eerie oeuvre including the complex and at times codependent relationship of good and evil that varies considerably from one film to the next, Captive plays particularly well as a thematic companion piece to Felicia's Journey.
While both films feel like updates on age-old fairy tales – echoing everything from Little Red Riding Hood to Hansel and Gretel to the aforementioned allusions to Alice in Wonderland, this time around he uses the cinematic looking glass to examine the role that storytelling plays on its own accord.
Trading in twisted role-play and dark storytelling on the deep web, we learn how a narrative can mean different things to different people.
However, unlike the way that the titular Felicia's Journey was placed in the hands of someone else, The Captive shows us in a variety of ways how words can keep not only hope but people alive as two of its characters make the choice to use the power of their stories to rescue themselves, whether or not they're in control in their current state.
A stronger execution of the same argument that he attempted to make in Chloe, although it’s structurally still something of a mess, The Captive grows bolder and more confident with time, resulting in one of Egoyan's most thrilling climaxes in years.
Nonetheless, the inclusion of an alternate ending on the newly released Lionsgate DVD makes you wish that he would've struck a greater balance between the two separate conclusions in order to give viewers a stronger sense of closure regarding one key subplot in particular.
Bolstered by its script as well as stellar support from Ryan Reynolds in an uncharacteristically serious turn ― despite its shortcomings, the film reminds viewers once again just how criminally underutilized he is in traditional leading man roles.
Intelligently crafted and undeniably suspenseful, like all of Egoyan's work, The Captive will linger in the mind for days.
Something's Gotta Give, North to Alaska AKA While Guy Friday's Green Card Was Taming Prada's Shrew
Veteran choreographer and Wedding Planner executive producer Anne Fletcher danced her way from her thematically ideal directorial transition in Step Up to kneeling down in the filmmaker's two nuptial obsessed follow-ups 27 Dresses and The Proposal.
Although Step Up spawned a sequel, Fletcher's sophomore effort, 27 Dresses which featured Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Truth and Knocked Up star Katherine Heigl earned a poor reception as just another "chick flick" cliche-riddled offering in the much maligned rom-com genre. Additionally, poor timing hindered Fletcher's Dresses from becoming an ideal fit as it was last year's first spring bride, reaching theatres weeks before other dead-on-arrival titles such as What Happens in Vegas and Made of Honor tried to romance ticket buyers. Yet, despite its benign familiarity, Dresses along with Honor starring Heigl's Anatomy costar Patrick Dempsey, were buoyed by their likable cast's tireless efforts to win us over along with a few unique twists on the predictable paradigm.
It's this same “cast as cheerleader” spirit that thrived to keep us entertained throughout Fletcher's early smash summer hit The Proposal, which was elevated before you even entered the theatre due to the star power of one of America's favorite sweethearts in the form of Sandra Bullock as its poster girl along with a nice unlikely Wolverine boost for Ryan Reynolds' increasing fan base. Likewise, The Proposal most likely drew in audiences seeking frothy, flirty fun and female escapism, which ironically is in stark contrast to the seasonal ATM of major movie studio franchise event movies like Wolverine that sound a bugle call that only fanboys can hear and are undeniably Hollywood's popcorn and butter as opposed to bread and butter.
Still just below the surface, since the films all come from the same "machine," they have much more in common than fanboys and Bullock fans would like to admit. For, typically franchise films try to up the special effects and jaw-dropping “big scene” quotient with every installment and likewise studio made romantic comedies seem to work the same way.
And while some like The Proposal are also guilty of using way too much CGI, traditionally rom-coms don't employ the technology department as much. However, they do follow the same patterns of repeating what's worked before. Remember how many gross-out rip-offs we had after There's Something About Mary became a huge success? They do this from the film's inception by gathering ingredients that have proven successful in the past for a screenplay that's as easy to predict as a good guy verses bad guy showdown in an action movie.
Then when that's in place, they assemble a familiar cast as if recruiting instantly recognizable players for an all-star baseball team by ensuring the audience knows the MVP's curveballs well. By staying within the same talent pool, they present individuals we've seen in variations of the role before and whose confidence we already have in the fact that Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds can hit a rom-com out of the park.
Although Julia Roberts was the first choice for the leading lady but as IMDb reveals would not take a pay-cut, Bullock has fun playing her serious, dominating and humorless wicked witch, hell on heels Devil Wears Prada like boss trapped in a typical Sandra Bullock rom-com such as Miss Congeniality, Practical Magic, Forces of Nature, Love Potion No. 9, Two Weeks Notice, While You Were Sleeping and Hope Floats.
Yet this time around, Sandra Bullock doesn't become the lovable free-spirited Sandra Bullock we were first enchanted by in Speed until nearly an hour into the movie. For her role as Margaret Tate, she plays the stereotypically gender like “male” to Ryan Reynolds' more sensitive, loyal, Two Weeks Notice meets His Girl Friday like "female."
A stiletto wearing dominatrix book publisher (a chick flick mandate!), Sandra Bullock's hotshot editor raises the blood pressure of the entire instant-message based office who pings her every move to one another in constant fear. Yet instead of the warnings flying around the floor's computer screens, it's Margaret who is struck with a warning early into the film that as a Canadian citizen, she will soon be deported unless she solidifies her citizenship in America.
And since Reynolds' loyal assistant Andrew is wrapped around her finger anyway, out of desperation to stay in the country she blackmails him with an Indecent Workplace Proposal of a quickie marriage and quickie divorce in exchange for his added demand that he finally gets the chance to become an actual editor.
Equally ambitious and risking jail time if he doesn't sell the relationship to the authorities, the muscular Wolverine star makes us swoon in obligatory shirtless moments while also reminding us why we fell in love with him in Definitely, Maybe as the American version of a young Hugh Grant. Yet although he agrees to Bullock's plan, he's the opposite of chivalrous for the first half of the film by testing her mettle via a public on-the-street proposal and bringing her to his grandmother Betty White's 90th birthday in his native small town Alaskan home.
Predictably the two go from loathe to love but the movie never fully convinces us of the chemistry between the leads other than the fact that they're both so darn likable as actors. Aside from the kiss that moves from acting to passion (again unconvincingly and blink-and-you-miss-it quickly) and one morning of tangible sexual tension, they never connect on the most basic conversational level.
Still, to its credit, The Proposal nicely sidesteps our internal questions about the easily spotted age difference between the much younger Reynolds and older Bullock since their roles not only swap “gender” tradition but “age” and “power” statuses as well. Most films would've thrown in a few lines about unease that likely Margaret would've had dating a young hottie. Yet perhaps realizing that if the situation had been reversed and we'd think nothing of a silly, mean-spirited middle aged male boss given a lesson in humanity by his younger female secretary as they fell in love, it is simply ignored.
Despite this one refreshing commitment, The Proposal garnered just passive smiles when it should've gone for laughs as though it was a background in-flight entertainment feature. Ultimately, the motivation of Pete Chiarelli's weak screenplay seems to have been to give Taming of the Shrew a While You Were Sleeping makeover with a Green Card premise. Yet throughout the film and in order to pad the running time, it's filled with moments inspired by dozens of other films, making The Proposal an unintentional "Scene It" rom-com game wherein you can guess the influence you're viewing onscreen whether it's Picture Perfect or Something's Gotta Give.
As a fan of Bullock, it's hard to look past the film's many, many missteps involving the star including a ludicrous strip sequence, a CGI eagle flying off with a dog and a downright embarrassing hip-hop dance in the woods with Betty White which made me recall Forces of Nature rather than While You Were Sleeping. Sadly, it's a part she's played so many times that-- without any respect for the characters or audience and with nothing new to work with from an inept screenwriter-- the undeniable talent of Sandra Bullock disappears to the point that she's just repeating herself like “Sandra Bullock” has become an interchangeable character instead of a gifted actress in need of better material.
Although it's hard not to smile during the movie, I was startled to realize that I hadn't genuinely chuckled during the entire film. And despite another superlative Disney Touchstone Pictures Blu-ray transfer that duplicates a theatrical level of quality in picture and sound, sadly I can only recommend The Proposal as a benign time-waster for a sick day. Along with the terrific high definition transition, the Blu-ray boasts an extra disc including a digital copy that's compatible on both Mac and PC computer. It's easily the only extra worth investigating as it comes with a laughless outtake reel and an alternate ending that again pulls from more rom-coms including Six Days, Seven Nights and The Wedding Singer.
Needless to say, my favorite feel good genre of the romantic comedy is in desperate need of resuscitation as far as original screenplays are concerned. However, until more great scripts get not only written but sold and produced as well, one temporary fix would be to cast actors you wouldn't immediately expect to find in the interchangeable films such as Charlize Theron, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly and Naomi Watts whose very presence would make the film feel infinitely fresher since it's against their type. And likewise, this would free up actresses like Sandra Bullock to show their range in something that doesn't have her tripping, slipping or playing second fiddle to a really bad male stripper.
According to the refreshingly humble and self-deprecating interview with Stan Lee included on Fox's Blu-ray release of Wolverine, he passes off his creation of Marvel Universe favorites the X-Men as taking a "lazy way out" by offering zero explanation as to how the characters developed their "crazy powers" other than noting they were simply "born that way."
Instead of the radioactive spider that turned an average boy into Spiderman or any number of scientific or biological experiments gone wrong, Lee decided he didn't want an elaborate concoction and shrugs it off by saying that he has "never been as dull" in his entire life.
Yet due to the development of the X-Men book and the way it evolved as it changed hands three major times when "new blood" took over as Lee admits that the series wasn't as important to him as Hulk or Thor, the comic became endlessly creative as it continued over the years. In doing so it used allegory to deal with certain social and civil rights issues and current events in the book, popular animated television series, and resulting trilogy of motion pictures.
While Lee gives much of the credit for the success of the book to Jack Kirby, whom he felt was an unappreciated storyteller as well as a talented artist, X-Men really hit its stride when Lee Wein created the character of Wolverine, originally as a battling partner for Hulk (which you can witness in the terrific Lionsgate release Hulk vs.).
Long a fan favorite with his rebellious nature and mysterious air that was strengthened both in the animated version as well as in the films when actor Hugh Jackman took on the role, it was only natural when Marvel announced they were going to release an X-Men Origins title that it would focus on the series' most popular character.
And to support the release and franchise in general, it's important to note that series creator Lee is the only one on the Blu-ray who admonishes his series creation as "dull" which may strike fans of Bryan Singer's first two films-- and Brett Ratner's crazily uneven but necessary third closing work-- as an odd acknowledgment. However, after seeing the coolly detached, largely illogical, and thinly plotted X-Men Origins: Wolverine, we realize that it was the talented filmmakers who this time were guilty of taking the dull and easy way out.
Yet although I grant that it is strange to imagine that we'd really need the origin tale of a man who would lose his memory prior to the start of the recent trilogy, I for one was really looking forward to another take on a character and series I'd previously enjoyed especially in its '90s surge in popularity.
Humorously Roger Ebert attacked the historical inaccuracies of the film which are glaring and kick off right from the start as the precise location and time of Canada's Northwest Territories in 1840 technically wouldn't have been dubbed such for 27 more years for the country and 30 for the territories.
And while that's certainly amusing, it was frustrating to open with an emotionally potent yet structurally blank and unsupported introduction to Logan/Wolverine and his half-brother Victor/Sabretooth as boys. Other than a silly "time and place" card that reveals more than poor talented screenwriter David Benioff is ever allowed to contribute, we're barely given any explanation for their mutant features as they're apparently just born with claws nor do we fully grasp the impact of the rushed opening sequence that results in the unintentional murder of their father.
Likewise, even more vague was the audience's understanding of just how the faux "Canadians" ended up fighting on our side in countless American wars via a bravura CGI heavy opening sequence as Logan (Jackman) and Victor (Liev Schreiber) somehow cease aging while getting their violent kicks.
Thus, we're further shortchanged in the Origins department by having the action flash forward over roughly a hundred and forty years as the two grown men are recruited into the shady off-the-books Black Ops force headed up by Danny Huston's General Stryker after surviving a firing squad attack. Despite the fact that the two half-brothers have already begun to change as Schreiber's Sabretooth has an unquenchable thirst for violence and is the first one in line to be "bad to the bone" of the claws that pop out of his knuckles whereas Logan wants to live as normal of a life as he can, he finally walks out on the group when a situation in Nigeria goes horribly wrong.
So the fighter becomes a lover and his transformation continues mostly because he appears to be slightly happy (Wolverine was never much for emotional outbursts) and he devotes his time as a musclebound lumberjack while sweet on a lovely schoolteacher played by Lynn Collins whose character is about as generic as one of the wife-beater t-shirts worn by Jackman.
Basically making him a lumberjack is a plot device designed to give Jackman one of endless chances to strut his stuff as a wife-beater wearing stud which was achieved via a strenuous exercise program and protein diet. Alas, his life as Logan is short-lived when once again he's prompted to get back into action as Wolverine by undergoing Stryker's Weapon X Program.
And although the film is essentially a Hugh Jackman vehicle tailored for and produced by the star, unfortunately he's the least interesting character in the movie as he's given a weak plot that at one point borrows heavily from Superman. Additionally, he's constantly upstaged by far too many supporting players including Taylor Kitsch's delightful turn as Gambit which is worthy enough to have built a movie around whereas some walk-ons by the Blob (Kevin Durand) find you wishing the editor would've had more freedom to cut since as a film, it doesn't make all that much sense anyway.
However, the showdown portion of the film is fun for popcorn flick fans. Still, it suffers from the lack of a compelling screenplay which fails to draw on decades of endlessly thrilling Wolverine comic material. Likewise because Tsotsiand Rendition director Gavin Hood somehow forgot the important storytelling aspect in his transition from dramatic to action filmmaker, Wolverine is ultimately a big snooze. Overall, it's a film that doesn't manage to deliver on its title and additionally suffers from the fact that we all know Wolverine won't remember it anyway in the conclusion.
Including footage of the film's world premiere held nearby in Tempe, Arizona from Fox Movie Channel, I still must admit that despite the film's shortcomings, it's another absolute dazzler in the Blu-ray format. The release from Fox boasts a digital copy of the movie (compatible with Mac and PC) and endless featurettes on the making of the movie, including the great discussion with the series and character creators, various tracks to watch the film with trivia, commentary, and more.
As Fox has proven in the past by improving on lackluster movies with terrific transfers that constantly rival Walt Disney as the two most routinely outstanding studios that excel in High Definition, Fox goes one better with Wolverine's Blu-ray by adding a trick even Gambit would've Marveled at by including the first ever "Live Lookup" feature in the history of the studio's BD releases. The technique uses the Blu-ray Live technology to connect disc owners to IMDb so that the information will never seem dated considering the film, its stars, and more as it will constantly change and update with time.
While overall, I can't recommend Wolverine as a movie, the Blu-ray is another dynamite achievement from Fox even though it pales in comparison to Singer's first two films in the X-Men series as well as the animated titles releasing from Marvel's new partner-- Walt Disney-- via Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
Hindered by a poor marketing campaign-- not to mention the fact that Kristen Stewart's target Twilight demographic most likely hadn't been born when this 1980s set film takes place-- I for one am hoping that Adventureland will reach a wider audience with its recent debut on Miramax DVD and Blu-ray.
Released under the banner of Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment that consistently delivers quality in their multipack more bang for your buck Blu-ray releases, the image quality is amazingly clear. And perhaps in the case of Adventureland, it may actually be guilty of being a little too clear for some of the young "in need of Clearasil" cast-mates-- as every individual hair to every individual wrinkle in the dull t-shirts sported by the amusement park employees fills your widescreen enhanced television in 1080 pixels.
While initially I wasn't sure this was a film that would necessarily require the Blu-ray release since it was designed with such a retro feel and purposely cheesy setting of the rigged amusement park, I was pleasantly proven wrong. In my recent viewing of the work in Blu, some of the sequences featuring fireworks over the water, leaves, and the park at night simply dazzle.
Furthermore, since the film was meant to be sort of like a pop song given its intriguing musical choices such as "Pale Blue Eyes" which plays at a key moment in a bummer mix tape that a character makes for another, I'm pleased to say that the sound balance was completed to a dynamic effect of not overpowering the dialogue with the music yet ensuring that we get the impact of the songs selected.
Chronicling the semi-autobiographical tale and its journey to the screen, writer/director Greg Mottola discusses how he found the cast as well as precisely the right vintage park they needed in the main making-of-featurette. And one of the most intriguing things the filmmaker addresses overall were the challenges of making a naturalistic movie set in the '80s that would give off a distinctly "you are here vibe" instead of turning it into a joke or satire.
To this end and to my line of thinking, he tunes the movie's screenplay like a guitar in order to ensure the arc of the characters (some of whom are composites of real people etc.) maximize the sense of losing their idealism and the idea of "selling out" in the decade of the yuppie even though the group of employees aren't necessarily yuppies.
And sure enough, Mottola has created a movies which on closer inspection reminds me of that decade's master John Hughes in ensuring that it blends humor with melancholy and makes every single person in the cast three-dimensional. For example, it would've been far too easy to create a sultry character like the park's coveted Lisa P. and just turn her into "the easy girl" or the movie's equivalent of a spoiled princess similar to the way that Ryan Reynolds' character who reveals unlikable levels soon into the film may have been just a manipulative jerk if handled by anyone else.
While I won't bore you with cinematic analysis since the film has already been reviewed on Film Intuition (which I've included below for your convenience), the Blu-ray continues to impress with extra material. Giving viewers the opportunity to take advantage of the Mac and PC compatible Digital Copy feature, the disc also includes audio commentary with Mottola and Jesse Eisenberg, picture music selection control to play select songs, and three Blu-ray exclusive extras such as character based bonuses like "Lisa P.'s Guide to Style," "Frigo's Ball Tap," and faux employee orientation videos and commercials in the "Welcome to Adventureland" section of the disc.
However, while usually deleted scenes feel like an unwanted addition since they either repeat material or contain jokes that fell flat, aside from one that fits the first reason with Ryan Reynolds and Jesse Eisenberg, the other two relish in the humor of Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. Therefore, these extras can't be missed and of the three "Angry Grandfather" is not only a standout but it's also one of the funniest scenes in or out of the film, not to mention one that thanks to Miramax, you're able to briefly explore in our Video Screening Room by clicking here.
Overall, it's an impressive Blu-ray with an excellent transfer that only solidifies Mottola's goal to have you feel like you're part of the experience. The film is enhanced by the transfer's sharpness and emphasis on close-ups that make us feel at times that we're tiptoeing on some very private and real moments. Moreover,Adventureland is one of the most impressive films about that transitional period between college and adulthood released so far in 2009 and it would additionally make a solid double feature alongside Fox Searchlight's (500) Days of Summer. While many missed it on the big screen, it's worth tracking down now that the theme park can be experienced in the comfort of your own home.
I spent this past weekend striving for fun diversions to entertain my visiting pre-kindergarten age niece and nephew. And after the obligatory trips to parks, McDonald's, children's museums, and Chuck E. Cheese-- we hit a local small-scale amusement park geared for youngsters who haven’t quite reached the age of the wild roller coasters and tilt-a-whirls.
Of course, the first order of business was to guarantee that the kids were the requisite height to relish in their three minutes of fun at two tickets a piece. But after the process of ensuring that all hands and feet were strapped inside each individual ride at the best angles for photos as they whisked by in toy planes and cars, I found myself equally fascinated by the employees of the local park as I was by its young attendees.
As a writer, I've always been overly observant and in fact annoyingly so as seldom a day goes by that my brain isn't working over time imagining what’s occurring just opposite me as I watch a couple at a restaurant or a man at a bus stop. Yet this particular interest in the diligent yet admittedly less than thrilled and some downright apathetic but on-task staff members running everything from the cheesy ring toss games to the carousel was most likely inspired by a recent press screening of writer/director Greg Mottola’s Adventureland.
Coming off the heels of his wildly popular Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen collaboration Superbad starring Michael Cera, on the surface it can be very easy to mistake Adventureland with Superbad. And this is especially true given not only its advertising and youthful appeal but also the fact that its lead actor Jesse Eisenberg (Rodger Dodger, The Hunting Party, The Squid and the Whale) could essentially serve as a mile-a-minute, sensitive and self-deprecating, charmingly awkward brother from another mother version of Superbad’s Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Juno, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist).
Yet, the recurring comment voiced by those exiting the theatre of Adventureland was precisely that it was not what a majority of the Arizona press expected going in. Basically, they assumed it would have much more in common with Superbad and the Apatow and Mottola television series Undeclared than it did with the film that first acquainted me with the writer/director—the Slamdance award winning Hope Davis and Stanley Tucci indie relationship ensemble piece, The Daytrippers which as Jason Geurrasio reported in indieWire is sadly “unavailable on DVD due to legal issues.”
Although it's been advertised and billed as though it were a 1980s era cousin to Superbad, Adventureland manages to put human comedy, pathos, melancholy, the double-edged sword of moving from post-graduate life to adulthood (with its combination of freedom mixed together with the terror of “what next?”) front and center. Impressively it does this by taking a bittersweet approach to the material that is wonderfully astute, surprising, and instantly relatable especially to those who remember the year of “Rock Me Amadeus” a.k.a. 1987 all too well.
Download the Soundtrack on iTunes
Fighting the urge of producers and studios whose inclination to move Adventureland to a contemporary setting since as Mottola told Guerrasio, “they didn't think young people would want to see a movie referencing another generation”—while the critical and box office success of Superbad helped ensure that “the money came fairly quickly,” the real fight came in Mottola’s conviction “to convince people to make the film as it was written.”
The semi-autobiographical and fast-paced quirky period piece, which Mottola penned “in the spirit of the short story,” started after a creative light bulb went off on the set of Undeclared as he and others tossed around tales about their lackluster first jobs. In addition to a great conversational topic, Mottola realized that he had a lot to go on from his own experience employed “in a Long Island amusement park while going to Columbia University in the late 1980s,” as the Miramax press release reveals.
Welcoming,what Mottola viewed as essentially a “therapeutic” opportunity to include “some of his influences, like his favorite boyhood bands the Velvet Underground, Violent Femmes and Talking Heads and films like Fellini’s ‘I, Vitelloni,’” he crafted this tale about Eisenberg’s recent, extremely bright college graduate who gets the shock of a lifetime following life in the suburban bubble. Fitting not only for the past but the present, his bubble bursts when he realizes his father has lost his a good deal of his salary during the economic hardship evidenced during the Reagan administration.
Unable to venture through what he hoped would be the ultimate coming-of-age abroad experience of backpacking through European hostels--he realizes instead that his liberal arts degree hasn’t prepared him with much “on-the-job” experience in the real world. Needing to find a job -- any job -- to cover the tuition for Columbia graduate school, Eisenberg’s James Brennan finds he’s just the right man for the gig at the local self-dubbed “funtastic” Pennsylvania amusement park, Adventureland. However, his new, overly eager employers Kristin Wiig (Ghost Town) and Bill Hader (Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express) only seem interested in the fact that he’s an applicant with a pulse.
Despite this, he isn’t given the much coveted assignment being in charge of rides like the legendary amusement park hottie Lisa P. Yet once he is pushed in the right direction to use a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm while operating games that are consistently rigged so that nobody will ever win the highly desired and expensive “giant ass panda” prize, things for James begin looking up when he finds a kindred spirit in the worldly, intelligent, and adorable Em (What Just Happened, In the Land of Women, and Twilight’s Kristen Stewart).
Stewart-- who just keeps getting better with each successive role following her breakthrough performance opposite Jodie Foster in David Fincher's Panic Room—is far more alive here playing a much older character than she was in the uninviting Twilight. Likewise, in her sweet, unassuming, casual way she manages to navigate the rocky terrain of heartache balancing the possibility of a new relationship with James while reconciling a beyond-just-friends complication with the married, older, musician janitor Ryan Reynolds (perfectly playing against that gentle Boy Scout-like role we fell in love with in Definitely, Maybe).
It’s this interpretation that seemed to have its roots in both Kate Hudson’s supporting role in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous and most likely the film that had inspired that one via Shirley MacLaine's impressive turn in Billy Wilder's Oscar winner The Apartment. Moreover, it's Stewart’s ability to add another layer to what could easily have been an underwritten role that gives Adventureland an unexpected heart that sneaks up on you as the film which begins with the promise of a gag-a-minute suddenly evolves into an exploration of as Mottola notes to Miramax, the type of film that “fits into this very small genre of stories that are about the worst summer ever turning into one of the most transformative experiences of your life.”
Filled with a tremendous ‘80s soundtrack (and way too many opportunities for “Rock Me Amadeus” which is nicely balanced out by an atypical musical decision to instead emphasize ‘70s era Lou Reed and Violent Femmes), Adventureland is Mottola’s cinematic attempt to craft a work that would feel like a pop song in the way that makes you think twice about “the emotions the characters are going through [which] might seem incredibly commonplace, almost superficial.”
While, to some the movie seemed like a harmless trifle or a forgetful piece of cinematic cotton candy, upon closer inspection, I was deeply impressed by his complete respect and understanding of the characters depicted as—much like a pop song, Mottola argued that, “at the same time, these things are enormously powerful when you're going through them. Finding your first love, losing that person, being disappointed, being deeply disillusioned by love, gaining an understanding of what intimacy actually requires -- these things have this huge effect of your life.”
Although it won’t strike the same Superbad chord with the core demographic the advertisers are shooting for in its campaign, much like last year’s overlooked intelligent charmer Charlie Bartlett, Adventureland is one that manages—despite its more than twenty year old setting—to tap right into the same ageless emotions we all experience in a way we don’t normally see being addressed with this level of articulation, introspection, humor, and respect for the age group it’s representing.
Or in other words, next time you’re at a cheap amusement park, look a little closer at the kid trying desperately to avoid handing out those “giant ass pandas." In doing so, perhaps you'll see the ambition, frustration, and yearning in their eyes as they tear our tickets and remind us to keep our children’s hands and feet inside the car at all times to sit back and enjoy the ride as hopefully they will once they venture out of the park and into the real world.
I spent this past weekend striving for fun diversions to entertain my visiting pre-kindergarten age niece and nephew. And after the obligatory trips to parks, McDonald's, children's museums, and Chuck E. Cheese-- we hit a local small-scale amusement park geared for youngsters who haven’t quite reached the age of the wild roller coasters and tilt-a-whirls.
Of course, the first order of business was to guarantee that the kids were the requisite height to relish in their three minutes of fun at two tickets a piece. But after the process of ensuring that all hands and feet were strapped inside each individual ride at the best angles for photos as they whisked by in toy planes and cars, I found myself equally fascinated by the employees of the local park as I was by its young attendees.
As a writer, I've always been overly observant and in fact annoyingly so as seldom a day goes by that my brain isn't working over time imagining what’s occurring just opposite me as I watch a couple at a restaurant or a man at a bus stop. Yet this particular interest in the diligent yet admittedly less than thrilled and some downright apathetic but on-task staff members running everything from the cheesy ring toss games to the carousel was most likely inspired by a recent press screening of writer/director Greg Mottola’s Adventureland.
Coming off the heels of his wildly popular Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen collaboration Superbad starring Michael Cera, on the surface it can be very easy to mistake Adventureland with Superbad. And this is especially true given not only its advertising and youthful appeal but also the fact that its lead actor Jesse Eisenberg (Rodger Dodger, The Hunting Party, The Squid and the Whale) could essentially serve as a mile-a-minute, sensitive and self-deprecating, charmingly awkward brother from another mother version of Superbad’s Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Juno, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist).
Yet, the recurring comment voiced by those exiting the theatre of Adventureland was precisely that it was not what a majority of the Arizona press expected going in. Basically, they assumed it would have much more in common with Superbad and the Apatow and Mottola television series Undeclared than it did with the film that first acquainted me with the writer/director—the Slamdance award winning Hope Davis and Stanley Tucci indie relationship ensemble piece, The Daytrippers which as Jason Geurrasio reported in indieWire is sadly “unavailable on DVD due to legal issues.”
Although it's been advertised and billed as though it were a 1980s era cousin to Superbad, Adventureland manages to put human comedy, pathos, melancholy, the double-edged sword of moving from post-graduate life to adulthood (with its combination of freedom mixed together with the terror of “what next?”) front and center. Impressively it does this by taking a bittersweet approach to the material that is wonderfully astute, surprising, and instantly relatable especially to those who remember the year of “Rock Me Amadeus” a.k.a. 1987 all too well.
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Fighting the urge of producers and studios whose inclination to move Adventureland to a contemporary setting since as Mottola told Guerrasio, “they didn't think young people would want to see a movie referencing another generation”—while the critical and box office success of Superbad helped ensure that “the money came fairly quickly,” the real fight came in Mottola’s conviction “to convince people to make the film as it was written.”
The semi-autobiographical and fast-paced quirky period piece, which Mottola penned “in the spirit of the short story,” started after a creative light bulb went off on the set of Undeclared as he and others tossed around tales about their lackluster first jobs. In addition to a great conversational topic, Mottola realized that he had a lot to go on from his own experience employed “in a Long Island amusement park while going to Columbia University in the late 1980s,” as the Miramax press release reveals.
Welcoming,what Mottola viewed as essentially a “therapeutic” opportunity to include “some of his influences, like his favorite boyhood bands the Velvet Underground, Violent Femmes and Talking Heads and films like Fellini’s ‘I, Vitelloni,’” he crafted this tale about Eisenberg’s recent, extremely bright college graduate who gets the shock of a lifetime following life in the suburban bubble. Fitting not only for the past but the present, his bubble bursts when he realizes his father has lost his a good deal of his salary during the economic hardship evidenced during the Reagan administration.
Unable to venture through what he hoped would be the ultimate coming-of-age abroad experience of backpacking through European hostels--he realizes instead that his liberal arts degree hasn’t prepared him with much “on-the-job” experience in the real world. Needing to find a job -- any job -- to cover the tuition for Columbia graduate school, Eisenberg’s James Brennan finds he’s just the right man for the gig at the local self-dubbed “funtastic” Pennsylvania amusement park, Adventureland. However, his new, overly eager employers Kristin Wiig (Ghost Town) and Bill Hader (Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express) only seem interested in the fact that he’s an applicant with a pulse.
Despite this, he isn’t given the much coveted assignment being in charge of rides like the legendary amusement park hottie Lisa P. Yet once he is pushed in the right direction to use a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm while operating games that are consistently rigged so that nobody will ever win the highly desired and expensive “giant ass panda” prize, things for James begin looking up when he finds a kindred spirit in the worldly, intelligent, and adorable Em (What Just Happened, In the Land of Women, and Twilight’s Kristen Stewart).
Stewart-- who just keeps getting better with each successive role following her breakthrough performance opposite Jodie Foster in David Fincher's Panic Room—is far more alive here playing a much older character than she was in the uninviting Twilight. Likewise, in her sweet, unassuming, casual way she manages to navigate the rocky terrain of heartache balancing the possibility of a new relationship with James while reconciling a beyond-just-friends complication with the married, older, musician janitor Ryan Reynolds (perfectly playing against that gentle Boy Scout-like role we fell in love with in Definitely, Maybe).
It’s this interpretation that seemed to have its roots in both Kate Hudson’s supporting role in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous and most likely the film that had inspired that one via Shirley MacLaine's impressive turn in Billy Wilder's Oscar winner The Apartment. Moreover, it's Stewart’s ability to add another layer to what could easily have been an underwritten role that gives Adventureland an unexpected heart that sneaks up on you as the film which begins with the promise of a gag-a-minute suddenly evolves into an exploration of as Mottola notes to Miramax, the type of film that “fits into this very small genre of stories that are about the worst summer ever turning into one of the most transformative experiences of your life.”
Filled with a tremendous ‘80s soundtrack (and way too many opportunities for “Rock Me Amadeus” which is nicely balanced out by an atypical musical decision to instead emphasize ‘70s era Lou Reed and Violent Femmes), Adventureland is Mottola’s cinematic attempt to craft a work that would feel like a pop song in the way that makes you think twice about “the emotions the characters are going through [which] might seem incredibly commonplace, almost superficial.”
While, to some the movie seemed like a harmless trifle or a forgetful piece of cinematic cotton candy, upon closer inspection, I was deeply impressed by his complete respect and understanding of the characters depicted as—much like a pop song, Mottola argued that, “at the same time, these things are enormously powerful when you're going through them. Finding your first love, losing that person, being disappointed, being deeply disillusioned by love, gaining an understanding of what intimacy actually requires -- these things have this huge effect of your life.”
Although it won’t strike the same Superbad chord with the core demographic the advertisers are shooting for in its campaign, much like last year’s overlooked intelligent charmer Charlie Bartlett, Adventureland is one that manages—despite its more than twenty year old setting—to tap right into the same ageless emotions we all experience in a way we don’t normally see being addressed with this level of articulation, introspection, humor, and respect for the age group it’s representing.
Or in other words, next time you’re at a cheap amusement park, look a little closer at the kid trying desperately to avoid handing out those “giant ass pandas." In doing so, perhaps you'll see the ambition, frustration, and yearning in their eyes as they tear our tickets and remind us to keep our children’s hands and feet inside the car at all times to sit back and enjoy the ride as hopefully they will once they venture out of the park and into the real world.
Walking Movie Encyclopedia at Film Intuition; 3-Time National Award Winning Scribe; Film Reviewer; "Watch With Jen" Podcast Host; Screenwriter; Movie Discussion Host; BA in Film Studies & Communication.
