Adventureland!

My best guess about the nature of growing up is that you screw up until you know better. Which is a strong argument for the notion that no one is ever done growing up. Adventureland is not really a comedy, in the same way that your youth is not a comedy. There are definitely funny moments, people, situations, but it isn't a comedy at all. It just is what it is. Which makes Adventureland, to me anyway, a lot more rewarding to watch than a film where the overarching goal is to make the audience laugh all the time. Sometimes, comedy isn't the only part of growing up.

But damn if it isn't funny a lot, anyway. Jesse Eisenberg reprises a position he did very well with in The Squid and the Whale by looking to the wrong people for male role-modelling. Ryan Reynolds personifies that guy who is good only at talking to girls (but not staying with them) and stands to complicate the life of Eisenberg's James Brennan. Because James likes Em, and Em is kind of lost right now, and Reynolds' Mike Connell is where she's holding herself during that confusion. James really likes Em, actually, and she likes him back, but you know how it goes. You have to do the wrong thing first.

James, having been forced to work through his summer at a demeaning amusement park job, leads us through the torchered, ridiculous life of young people who have no idea where their headed, or if they do, no means to get there. It's a classic stuck in the mud situation. Most of the people in this film are depressingly working through it all, but witty and self-preserving enough not to let it completely obliterate their self-worth.

The funny thing about watching James is that as much as you want him to get the girl (I mean, I did, and I suspect every other guy watching the film did, but I haven't gotten a girl's take on Em yet), more than that, you want him to grow up and get past the young dramatics. Which, wonderfully, Adventureland does not romanticize or condemn. It just is, pretty unembellished, the way you feel about being young and totally clueless about how to handle your situation.

Everyone on cast makes it completely genuine to watch. If you're a fan of Twilight, then pack it in now, because this is the role Kristen Stewart should actually be proud of. Esisenberg turns his vulnerability believably into shades of confusion, anger and care, and does it in a measured, understated way. Reynolds shows up to fill in a completely unappealing character, and that deserves a nod. Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig turn in surprisingly custodial roles, doing their parts proud without chewing up the scenery, a restraint likely due to Greg Mottola.

And I have saved Mottola for last - he's due a ton of credit for making a film about young people dealing with their coming of age baggage completely watchable and enjoyable. It must be hard to play this kind of story to a genuine note when every scene likely pulls towards melodrama. Bravo.