Warning: This movie is not a comedy. The trailers have been lying to you. It does not even really try for laughs. Instead it is a serious coming of age tale that only contains some muted comic characters, the best of which are the dynamic duo of Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, who are probably best known for their large part in the resurgence of Saturday Night Live. They play a husband and wife who are the owners of the title carnival. Bless their hearts, they really are trying, but no matter how good these two are, it is hopeless. The movie itself seems adamantly opposed to helping them make us laugh. This is a slow, soulful, and angst-driven movie. The main character makes a mix-tape of bummer songs for the girl at one point. We get to hear some of it. The tone of this movie is decidedly anti-comedic.
Surely every one of us believes that there is a good movie somewhere in the story of our first loves. Greg Mottola the writer/director of this movie (previously the director of SuperBad) has decided to make that movie. So we get to see what is probably very close to Mottola’s own experience in the early eighties. The kid, played by Jesse Eisenberg, has his plans to backpack through Europe vanish when his parent’s financing falls through. Because he majored in Comparative Literature he can’t get a real job and goes to work at Adventureland, which is such a horrible place that the owners don’t even check his resume before hiring him. I worked at such a place for two summers myself (selling tickets at the Orange County Fair) and I can definitely say that Mottola really gets the entire feel of the place down. Everyone views his or her very presence at the fair as some failure in and of itself. As Martin Starr, the kid’s best friend, points out in response to the intolerable conditions of the place, “We are doing the work of pathetic brain-dead morons.” Everyone wanders around like souls in Purgatory, shaky hopes of better futures in their eyes. When ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ is played for the zillionth time through the park speakers they are haunted by the specter that maybe this is what the rest of their life will be like.
The difference between the Orange County Fair and Adventureland is the presence of hot and single girls at the latter. Life is better in the movies I suppose, even when that movie is an honest telling of a virgin working the rip-off games at the local fair. Here we have Kristen Stewart who has just become big because of Twilight. (She’s actually been working for a while. I first noticed her in 2002’s Panic Room, when she played the diabetic daughter of Jodie Foster. Back then, one of my friends said that she would probably grow up hot. We all called him a pervert but, my God, was he right.) Kristen Stewart is one of the best young actresses out there right now. Unlike most actresses, she knows the difference between intense and sexy and is willing to portray a good amount of intelligence in her characters. She reminds me of Juliette Lewis, who had all these great roles in the early nineties (Natural Born Killers, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape). Unfortunately she wasn’t good looking enough to have a real career. I don’t think that’s going to hinder Kristen though.
Jesse Eisenberg honestly kind of annoyed me a little. Is it possible for the ‘nice guy’ in any movie to not constantly awkwardly stutter? I know he’s a virgin, but he’s also a college graduate. The guy isn’t a teenager. He’s buying drinks in bars. Certainly he should have at least learned how to hide the awkwardness by now. It’s really just one of those things. Why does Kristen Stewart like the guy?
Overall the movie is a failure as a comedy, but a good enough first-love story. It's not a must see. I bet it holds a very dear place in Greg Mottola’s heart though.
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