'Adventureland' predictable yet hilarious

"Adventureland" (R)
Grade: B

Every now and then, a film comes around that reminds us just how low work can go. Last time it was “Office Space.” This time it’s “Adventureland,” the new film by Greg Mottola, director of “Superbad.” However, this one takes place in 1987.

In the film, recent college graduate James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) finds himself in a pickle when his parents tell him that they cannot afford to give him the graduation gift they promised (a trip to Europe). They also tell him that his plans to move to New York in the fall for graduate school might be shattered by the family’s economic situation.

So, James searches for a job. Of course he can’t find one (because he’s an English major with no references), so he takes the only one he can find: a job working a game booth at Adventureland, the local amusement park.

The mere fact that James doesn’t choose suicide over this option is quite surprising, because I’m pretty sure people would have to pry the razor from my fingers if I were in his situation.

Regardless, he takes the job from the mustache-sporting, white-tennis-shoe-wearing park manager Bobby (Bill Hader), who tells him that if he gives away a “giant ass panda” (the top prize for his game stall), he might as well kiss his job goodbye. On his second day, he nearly gets robbed at knife point for a giant ass panda, but neighboring booth operator Em (Kristen Stewart) swoops in and saves him.

However, the instant spark between them also marks considerable thickening of the plot. Viewers discover that Em has a history with the park’s dude-guy playboy maintenance worker Mike Connell (Ryan Renolds), and the gorgeous, dancing former employee Lisa P returns to work at Adventureland for the summer. Audiences also discover fairly quickly that James is a virgin, waiting to find the right girl to have sex for the first time.

The primary focus of the film is the tangled web of sexual tension between James, Em, Lisa P and Mike Connell. All four actors do a fantastic job, but Eisenberg and Stewart are the best. Eisenberg is completely convincing as a sweet, wide-eyed romantic, and Stewart accurately captures the troubled early-20-something (even though she’s only 19 – go figure). They have excellent chemistry on screen as their relationship bounces between friendship and something more.

Unfortunately, the mess of tension between the four characters evolves in a fairly predictable manner, and it becomes painfully obvious that Mottola didn’t give a shit that a 3-year-old could figure out the way his film was going to end. Luckily, a hilarious team of secondary characters, led by Hader, saves the film.

Hader nails every scene, and his performance as the nerdy, trashy, pseudo-tough manager who isn’t afraid to threaten to bash a belligerent guest’s head in with a bat is worth the price of admission to see. Matt Bush, who plays James’ obnoxious childhood friend and fellow park worker, also steals several scenes, punching James in the crotch and shooting Roman candles into an open field, pretending to be fighting in Vietnam.

While the film is filled with lots of laughs from start to finish, it is a little depressing in our current economic state, especially for liberal arts majors graduating in June (i.e. me). I guess we’ll just have to hope we don’t end up at Adventureland. And if we do … well shit.