Get in line for Adventureland

April 6, 9:35 PMLA Movie ExaminerJim Luksic

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Adventureland cast members line up. (AP)

It's all too fitting, given Americans' propensity for instant gratification, that a movie titled Fast & Furious laid waste to its weekend box-office competition.

By the same token, the fact Adventureland managed only a sixth-place slot won't raise many eyebrows, no matter how superior it is to many concurrent movies.

Off the bat, I'll admit a predilection for the 1980s, especially when it comes to pop culture. Adventureland, which sets up shop in Pittsburgh circa 1987, is teeming with remnants of the era, including a soundtrack that is a New Wave lover's dream.

Writer and director Greg Mottola, who will probably remain best-known for Superbad no matter how many of his subsequent films trump it, presents an auto-biographical take on working at an amusement center. That premise may not bestir the masses, but Mottola imbues his fleshed-out characters with heart while nimbly navigating their entangled friendships.

The romantic mess at hand: A college graduate (Jesse Eisenberg) settles for a "games" job at the titular park and becomes smitten with two coworkers, a cute homewrecker (Kristen Stewart) and a curvaceous vixen (Margarita Levieva). The former has an ongoing affair with the park's married mechanic (Ryan Reynolds).

Lest you think melodrama rules the day, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig come to the rescue with unsurpassed comic timing. We could've done without the running gag of genitals-punching (which I've never found amusing), yet the perpetrator frequently pounds the hero's privates with impunity.

For all of Stewart's earthy cuteness, along with serviceable turns in Twilight and Into the Wild, the teenager doesn't register as a star in the making. She does pull off one bristling scene -- Adventureland's finest -- when the protagonist confronts her in the street. As for Reynolds, give the devil his due: The actor has charm to burn, but when might he demonstrate some range?

Ultimately, Mottola hangs his hopes on Eisenberg, who seizes the opportunity. His soft and amiable demeanor, which lingers amid maddening circumstances, recalls that of fellow youngster Michael Cera in Juno.

For at least one youth who endured the summer of '87, all is not lost -- except at the box office.