Adventureland

The experience of watching a movie at home versus the theater has its obvious differences.  I have a small home theater with surround sound and a comfy couch to put the legs up. It is casual but I still take my movie experience seriously. If you watch a movie at home with me and you talk I will shush you. And shushing is part of my professional training from Librarian School.  And don’t you dare guess the end of the movie out loud please.  My sister (AKA Mother #6) can confirm that I hate this and will hold a grudge about it until the end of time which, as the media keeps reminding us, may be December of this year. Mr. Smith and I don’t care if the world ends in 2012 as long as we get to see the Hobbit first. Luckily it comes out a week before doomsday.*

One of the advantages of watching a movie at home is rewinding the funny parts.  I remember watching Back to the Future over and over again on VHS with my nephew Nick when he was young. We would rewind the part where the model car runs off the table, catches the trash on fire, and Doc Brown gasps.  For some reason it caused uncontrollable giggles every time.  I am sad to say that the movie I am reviewing here today did not give me the giggles or any cause to rewind.  In fact, I was tempted to Fast Forward.

 Title: Adventureland

When: January 16, 2012 Monday

Where: Home on DVD

Mood: It was MLK Jr. Day and I had the day off.  To avoid cleaning I watched a movie.  Kinda bored before the movie which, as you will see, may have affected my review  

Previews: Nothing note-worthy that I hadn’t already seen

With whom: Me and the Dust bunnies

RANDOM FACT(S): Another Pittsburgh connection with this movie.  “Adventureland” was really Kennywood Park in this movie and part of what actually kept my interest in the film was recognizing different parts of the park.  The real Adventureland park is located in Farmingdale, New York on Long Island

Adventureland is, I guess, part coming of age story, part romance, part comedy.  I normally like these types of movies but I was bored.  NOTHING HAPPENS.  I wasn’t expecting a grand mystery or a laugh a minute but I was not impressed and didn’t find anything funny.  I am still trying to decide if I like Kristen Stewart’s acting or not.  With this cast I expected bigger things.  I wanted to see more of Kristen Wiig and less of Kristen Stewart.  The movie did capture the atmosphere of a typical summer job and the nostalgia of the 80’s.  It reminds you of being a teen working a crappy low paying when you’d rather be hanging with friends or doing anything else. Then again, you don’t have to been a teen in 1988 to pine for this.

The product placement was a success too because for some reason I really want one of the Games, Games, Games t-shirts some of the characters wore.

However, I didn’t like any of the characters except for the park owners (SNL’s Wiig and Bill Hader) and there was far too little of them.  I lied, I did actually laugh out loud when the owners were gluing googley eyes on the stuffed banana prizes and they didn’t have any more eyes so Kristen Wigg was gluing on eye patches.  Stuffed bananas and/or Samuel L Jackson with an eye patch will always cause a giggle.

I found the main character whiny and insecure and wanted to shout at him “just take out a damn loan for grad school like everyone else and stop blaming your parents’ financial losses for your misery” but then I would be breaking my own silence during movies rule. Also, there were too many people getting kicked or punched in the balls and too many embarrassing accidental erections. Save the crotch humor for Jackass and Funniest Home Videos.

I was okay with the ending but was left still bored.  Kristen Stewart’s character seemed stoic the whole time so I don’t know if it was an act or even she disliked the storyline.

This was a decent movie to watch at home on a slow day but I’m glad I didn’t pay for it. I’d recommend rewatching Back to the Future instead.

Sidebar – If you want details on the plot, characters, or other info I won’t be going into much detail in these blogs.  For more info about such things please visit my favorite website, the Internet Movie Database at http://www.imdb.com/

Did you know – I borrowed this movie for free from my local library.  In case you didn’t know, libraries have tons of movies you can borrow and watch for free.  If they don’t have a copy of what you want at your local library, but they own it at another library, you can reserve it and have it sent to the library of your choice for you to borrow.  Just a fun fact from your friendly part-time librarian!

*I do realize that this is only Part 1 and that if the world ends I will never see Part 2.  Whew, good thing I read the book.

So friends, what did you think of Adventureland? What is your favorite movie filmed in or near your town?

Overall: 2 ½ out of 5 bags of popcorn