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Adventureland poster

Adventureland

year 2009decade 00sdirector Greg Mottolagenre Comedygenre Dramagenre Romance

106 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Jesse Eisenberg James Brennan
Kristen Stewart Em Lewin
Kristen Wiig Paulette
Bill Hader Bobby
Ryan Reynolds Mike Connell
Jack Gilpin Mr. Brennan
Josh Pais Mr. Lewin
Wendie Malick Mrs. Brennan
Mary Birdsong Francy
Matt Bush Tommy Frigo
Paige Howard Sue O’Malley
Dan Bittner Pete O’Malley

Adventureland | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Juliet Litmanproducer Craig Horlbeck
Explore episodeClose episode

Most Rewatchable Scene

Pot cookies through Hader’s baseball bat (two choices); park tour (one)

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:32Read transcript
  • James’s first day is nominated, particularly learning that the giant-panda game is unwinnable and that some targets are glued in place.
  • The first-day tour exposes rigged games and absurd park rules, with Joel’s jaded guidance setting the tone and puncturing James’s innocence.
  • Em’s party is nominated for the recurring erection joke.
  • The remodeled house convincingly communicates the stepmother’s influence.
  • James and Em’s drink with the lounge singer performing Hot Blooded is nominated, especially the singer pointing out his nephew during a solo.
  • The Lisa P date is nominated because Frigo interrupts and tries to extract favors after discovering James was telling the truth.
  • The pot-cookie sequence through bumper cars, the Cure and Hader’s baseball-bat intervention is nominated for its escalating comic chaos.
  • James and Joel’s hillside conversation about Melville’s obscurity is nominated, showing that Joel can match James’s literary interests.
  • The final rain conversation is important for its observations about perception and facing people one has hurt, although it is explicitly not offered as most rewatchable.
  • The first Razzmatazz ensemble scene and Lisa P’s dancing are another scene candidate.
  • The pot-cookie-to-baseball-bat sequence receives two explicit final scene choices; the Adventureland tour receives one.

What’s Aged the Best?

Soundtrack; mustache; groin-punch gag; corn dogs; Lisa P; entrances; erection gag; mixtapes; stepmother; Joel’s line; liberal-arts satire; carnival

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:36:30Read transcript
  • The soundtrack has aged well, with praise for the Replacements’ Bastards of Young, Bowie’s Modern Love, the Rolling Stones’ Tops, Hüsker Dü’s Don’t Want to Know If You Are Lonely, Crowded House’s Don’t Dream It’s Over, the Cure’s Just Like Heaven and INXS’s Don’t Change.
  • The amount of Lou Reed and Velvet Underground music divides opinion, with another listener enjoying the repeated Pale Blue Eyes.
  • Repeated Rock Me Amadeus is praised as a running joke that makes the characters hate the park’s music.
  • Hader’s period mustache has aged well.
  • Frigo’s repeated groin punches are praised as a recognizable period gag.
  • The corn dogs remain appetizing despite the less appealing bulk-delivery image.
  • Margarita Levieva’s Lisa P performance is praised, with The Deuce cited as her later prominent role.
  • Continuing to call her Lisa P after other Lisas have apparently disappeared is an appealingly familiar naming habit.
  • Lisa P’s unmediated local celebrity and slow-motion entrance remain appealing, as does the recurring erection joke.
  • Mixtapes have aged well because their handwritten selections and fixed sequencing required more thought and effort than an editable playlist.
  • The stepmother’s use as a partial villain and her period haircut are praised.
  • Joel’s resigned line that worse things have happened to Jewish people is praised as an effective throwaway joke.
  • The satire of liberal-arts graduates and Em questioning why travel writing requires journalism school have aged well.
  • The carnival is an unusually effective central setting, compared with Big’s partial use, the Knoxville park film and The Way Way Back’s water park.

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Catholic girl; Connell’s characterization

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:10Read transcript
  • The Catholic girl is nominated as weak link because her rejection of Joel adds little and the religious divide seems implausible for 1987.
  • Connell’s character is the other weak link: his apparent coolness conceals a loser, but more charm, better advice and a clearer reason for Em’s attraction are desired.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Lou Reed quantity; Scarlet V; religious rejection; music character; slur humor

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:04Read transcript
  • Too much Lou Reed is an aged-worst choice; the early script reportedly used Neil Young, which would not improve the music for the objector.
  • The Scarlet V expression has aged poorly as an unfamiliar relic rather than an offensive phrase.
  • Joel’s rejection for being Jewish and the unsuccessful Jack Black-like music character are other aged-worst selections.
  • Using homophobic and disability slurs for jokes is identified as conspicuous and dated.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

More Mottola films; Reynolds should play losers

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:17Read transcript
  • One hot take wants more films from Mottola, whose strong work and actors’ admiration have not translated into enough directing opportunities.
  • The other hot take says Reynolds should specialize in attractive losers and unpleasant characters, with this role preferred over conventional heroes.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Hot Blooded singer; Hader/Wiig if eligible

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:54:46Read transcript
  • Hader and Wiig are proposed as Dion Waiters co-winners if eligible, with Wiig initially favored for her smaller screen time.
  • The Hot Blooded lounge singer is the preferred traditional small-role choice.
  • Michael Zegen’s college friend is proposed but does not displace the lounge singer.

Apex Mountain

Maintenance men; pantsless push-ups phrase; SNL-era Hader; amusement-park films; Falco/Rock Me Amadeus; giant-ass pandas

In the discussion (12)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:09Read transcript
  • Levieva is rejected for Apex here.
  • Eisenberg is rejected for Apex here.
  • Stewart is rejected for Apex here; her peak is located around later Twilight films, distinct from her later fashion and independent-film reputation.
  • Reynolds is rejected for Apex here.
  • Maintenance men in movies receive an affirmative Apex choice.
  • The phrase about doing push-ups without pants receives an affirmative Apex choice.
  • Hader’s Saturday Night Live period receives a qualified affirmative Apex choice for 2009, while his overall peak is assigned to Barry.
  • Mottola’s Apex is disputed between this two-film run and Superbad enabling him to make Adventureland.
  • Amusement-park movies receive an affirmative Apex choice.
  • Eisenberg being dumped in an opening scene is rejected in favor of The Social Network.
  • Falco and Rock Me Amadeus receive an affirmative retrospective Apex choice because of their enduring use here.
  • Giant-ass pandas are belatedly added as an affirmative Apex choice.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Seven-years-later sequel; prestige TV; all-Black cast

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:06Read transcript
  • A sequel could follow James and Em seven years later in New York with unequal career success, potentially directed by Noah Baumbach.
  • Prestige television could expand the park ensemble, while an all-Black version could explore a graduate’s similar financial disappointment.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Beware boastful older men and borrowed basements

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:30Read transcript
  • Life lessons warn about a boastful older coworker whose job reveals limited prospects and about dating someone who takes partners to another person’s basement.