Adventureland

Wow a film that features multiple instances of characters getting punched in the groin and I didn't roll my eyes once. That's quite a feat. The film follows Jesse Eisenberg's character who's just graduated from college and found out his parents are short of cash. As a result he's forced to work at a third rate amusement park for the summer called, you guessed it, Adventureland. Of course he has some meaningful experiences, and learns some life lessons, as you would expect but the real beauty of the film is that none of it feels forced. The film manages to keep a low key vibe throughout, and as a result (most of) the characters manage to feel like real people even if they're a little too well spoken and insightful for that to actually be the case. Most of the laughs, including the groin shots, are earned and unlike most comedies we see these days you never feel like the cast is constantly saying "look at Me, I'm being funny, please laugh. Laugh Damn you." As an added bonus the soundtrack prominently features my favorite Velvet Underground song, Pale Blue Eyes (though this isn't saying much as I'm not a huge Velvet Underground fan), and its the second consecutive film I've seen to feature a prominent Rush reference. I may have to go back to wearing my Celtics Starter jacket.

Anyway its a nice little film that I'd recommend checking out.

Addendum: This trailer showed beforehand and almost caused me to leave:



I mean really, this is what we've come to? Its watching a parody trailer on SNL, please tell me this isn't a real film.