Adventureland (2009)

With my best films of 2009 list overdue, I've still got a lot of 2009 films on DVD to watch. At the same time I want to put more little known gems and classics on this blog and those will come in due time I suppose. New Years was a very interesting event for me. I got to hang out with a friend that I never usually hang out with on a one on one type basis and we had a really good time. I didn't get wasted or anything, just drunk enough to have a good solid buzz going on and to bring the new year in with some sort of class. I knew that I wasn't going to get an entry in yesterday, well, mostly because I slept in most of the day with my friend. We both slept half the day away pretty much, but it was one of those beautiful sleeps. You know the ones that you know you don't have to get up the next day and you can totally just sleep? YES! Of course then I had some drama with my car since I'm staying at my sisters for the time being. She lives in the city so parking is totally fucked around here. Can't park anywhere without paying some kind of bloody fee! So I ended up parking it at a friend's house who luckily lives like five minutes away from my sister. Of course that doesn't really make me feel much better because he lives in a crime ridden neighborhood and I actually saw broken glass from other cars being broken into in two of the parking spots. I'm on edge about that cause my car was broken into last summer and I still haven't been able to get my window fixed that those fuckers broke. I actually watched two films yesterday but I'm only going to talk about one today.

Films like this are always overlooked and that good be a bad or a good thing. It's bad for the film because it doesn't make a lot of money but sometimes, well for me, when a hidden gem gets too much exposure I sort of lose interest. Sometimes when there's a great film that only a few people know about, it makes the film special and maybe almost exclusive in a way. Plus when you find someone else who knows about the film it becomes a bonding experience. That might make me sound like a film snob but I promise I'm not. Sometimes it just feels good to have you own hidden gems.

"Adventureland" is a rich character film. It's always easy for me to fall in love with films like this because it makes you feel like you know these characters. They do such a great job of fleshing them out. Such like another favorite of mine "Empire Records". I literally feel apart of that movie when I'm watching it because the characters are so lovable and real. Adventureland takes place in 1987 about a young man who is getting ready to go to Columbia University but finds out that his parents are financially strapped so he has to take a summer job. He unfortunately ends up at a theme park called Adventureland, a place with an empty upstairs manager and his wife and lifeless drone employees. What makes this film special is the combination of great characters, awesome music from the past, random funny moments, and the performances. Kristen Stewart is really amazing in this. Even though someone who has seen most of her performances will say that she's pretty much the same person in all her movies, I believe she's not. Sure they are the same sort of mumbling passive attitude characters that she's really good at pulling off, but there's a very subtle difference in all her performances. What's perfect about it is they are subtle but at the same time create different characters. It's always beautiful to watch any young gifted actor or actress but it's really amazing to watch Kristen act. The facial expressions, the little nuances that she gives each one of her characters that flesh them out and make them completely real. I never get the impression that she's acting. It's a completely natural approach and I love that! One performance that did sort of shock me a little bit was Jesse Eisenberg playing the title role. I say that because I think this role challenged him a little bit more than any of his other roles, not counting "Zombieland". Normally Jesse sort of has this young Woody Allen thing going on. Which he pulls off quite well but it's finally good to see him more emotional and more raw as he is in this film. Even though Bill Hader and especially Kristen Wiig were underused, all the actors did exactly what they were supposed to do performance wise in this film and I can never stress enough that characters are key. Great characters are essential to any story. You have to take time to know who you're writing about. Create a back story. Where did they come from? What do they want? I mean, really know your characters inside and out because that's the only way you'll be able to direct.

I had fun watching this movie and I did laugh out loud on several occasions. Definitely a diamond in the rough, this film is not to be missed. Whether it gains cult status or remains special to a few, it will always be a hidden gem for me to enjoy and share with my friends for years to come. Now, time to see if I can squeeze in a film tonight or not. I'm still trying to figure out how to put a damn video on this blog so I can put trailers up along with these posts so if anyone knows please assist! Meanwhile check out the trailer for Adventureland on youtube.