Adventureland / Adventureland - Job d'été à éviter

(Adventureland – Summer Job to Avoid)

Ah, there, the (maybe) awaited post on Adventureland - this has been in the making for a while but with the Social Network coming out, I thought I should get on with it and finish this. 

This was the first time I saw Jesse Eisenberg (I don’t remember him in the Village and I saw this the week before I saw Zombieland).

Adventureland is a coming of age story set up in the 80s. James (Eisenberg), who is supposed to go travelling Europe before starting journalism school, has to cancel his plans because of his parents’ financial problems and go work at Adventureland, the local amusement park. He meets up a bunch of people his age who all unsurprisingly hate their jobs: all sorts for people from the nerd to the weird looking via the slightly slutty... and pretty Em (Kristen Stewart) who surprisingly likes our James. But she also likes married man Mike (Ryan Reynolds). And it all becomes quickly complicated.

It is one of these films where the secondary characters are well drawn and important and interesting and despite being a bit cliched at time (see description above), you might find it possible to identify some of them with some childhood friends.

I know that the trailer made the film seem like the next big teen comedy, but it definitely isn’t and although there are some funny moments, it is more likely to trigger some nostalgia, as this is a tale of first love.

The title Adventureland, focuses on the place. The characters meet there, it is the centre of their universe that summer, anything that they will experience is linked to it. Well, it is the Land of Adventure after all.

Oh yes, they all moan about having to work there because the place is a bit lame, but the boss isn’t all bad and the staff form friendships. The real problem being, for a change, the customers, some of whom are absolutely horrible.

The French title was probably inspired by one of the taglines that said "Nothing brings people together like a crappy summer job" and is a great demonstration of rule 1. It puts the emphasis on the job itself: it is a job to avoid and thus it negates any positive experience the characters might have had. 

And why create an overly long title when the original was only one word? I never cease to wonder. 

So, is it really a summer job one should avoid? Possibly. Is it a film to watch? Definitely.