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SJ Reviews: 'Adventureland'..80's nostalgia coming of age flick


SouthernJet

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From the writer of SuperBad come Adventureland. Its a coming of age flick that deals with a 1987 recent Oberlin grad ready to take a summer trip to Europe with his 'more wealthy' friends' Well everything changes when his Dad gets demoted and there isnt enough money. So he has to take a job to save for upcoming grad school in NYC at Colombia.

So, wit ha English Lit degree he doesnt have a lot of summer options so its off to Loser-ville, the local Theme park.

Its a great little flick, very Indie in nature (its actually also playing in Indie houses across the US).

We see a boy become a man and learn about hoimself, love and social values.

Great music for the late 80s and I think all will enjoy this pretrty cute humorous AND quite nicley would drama also.

Very nice cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Ryan Reynolds, Kristen Stewart, Martin Starr, Paige Howard, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Wendy Malik.

3 stars_002.gif's

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I worked at Adventureland on Long Island for 3 years, so this movie had some added value, especially since Judd Apatow was basing it off of his experiences working there in the 80's.

Definitely alot of the same types of stuff going on, I didn't experiences as much drug use during that time, but there was alot of "co-mingling" of workers.

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I worked at Adventureland on Long Island for 3 years, so this movie had some added value, especially since Judd Apatow was basing it off of his experiences working there in the 80's.

Definitely alot of the same types of stuff going on, I didn't experiences as much drug use during that time, but there was alot of "co-mingling" of workers.

cool,,didnt know that,,the adventureland in flick is based in Pittsburgh,,I guess that was the only one available to film at.

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I worked at Adventureland on Long Island for 3 years, so this movie had some added value, especially since Judd Apatow was basing it off of his experiences working there in the 80's.

Definitely alot of the same types of stuff going on, I didn't experiences as much drug use during that time, but there was alot of "co-mingling" of workers.

Do you still have your "Games" t-shirt?

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I worked at Adventureland on Long Island for 3 years, so this movie had some added value, especially since Judd Apatow was basing it off of his experiences working there in the 80's.

Definitely alot of the same types of stuff going on, I didn't experiences as much drug use during that time, but there was alot of "co-mingling" of workers.

found this,,actually it was director mattola who worked in LI, not Apatow..

Greg Mottola's "Adventureland" hits screens in the United States. Mottola most recently directed the comedy "Superbad," and earlier worked with Judd Apatow on the TV show "Undeclared." But before any of that, Mottola was... an amusement park employee. The now-44-year-old worked in the 1980s at a Long Island amusement park called Adventureland, and has written and filmed a movie loosely based on that experience.

They've kept the name, but shot the movie at Pittsburgh's Kennywood, which filmmakers grunged up to look like a more decrepit '80s suburban carnival park. In Mottola's film, working in a park isn't a glamor job: The movie's website tag line? "Long hours. Low pay. High times."

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The now-44-year-old worked in the 1980s at a Long Island amusement park called Adventureland, and has written and filmed a movie loosely based on that experience.

They've kept the name, but shot the movie at Pittsburgh's Kennywood, which filmmakers grunged up to look like a more decrepit '80s suburban carnival park.

They probably decided not to shoot it at Adventureland, because they didn't want to deal with the lawsuits if a member of the cast or one of the extras was mangled/killed by a ride:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventureland_(New_York)#Accidents

Accidents

During the same week in 2005 two people died. The first person was a ride operator for the "Lady Bug Coaster." The worker walked out onto the tracks and then struck by the coaster car; he passed away the next morning due to internal injuries. The second incident involved a 45 year old woman on a ride called the "Top Scan" (replaced by the "Frisbee"). She was flung from the spinning ride and crashed into an employee's car in the parking lot. The ride was never used again at Adventureland. In 2007, a 6-year-old boy's hand was mangled on an attraction called Super Raider (Fun House). In 2008, a prop of a skeleton bicycling on a tight rope fell on a 5-year-old girl. She was in the hospital for a few days and then was released.

I didn't even know about the last one, which is interesting, since my wife took my son there for their Halloween festivities last year.

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