Adventureland

Writer-director Greg Mottola’s coming-of-age dramedy limns late-’80s service-industry ennui, with a little bit of sass, some self-congratulation and much period-appropriate music. Jesse Eisenberg stars as a brainy, uptight college grad stuck in a summer job at a vaguely seedy suburban amusement park. He’d been hoping for a trip to Europe, but at least he finds a few kindred spirits among his co-workers—particularly Joel (Martin Starr) as a jaded Gogol-reading regular and a sexily sullen love interest played by Kristen Stewart. Generally it’s a satisfying ride, with good casting and performances sometimes making up for an ultimately unremarkable script. Like its titular recreation area, the movie might more frankly have been called Diversionland, but who’d buy tickets to that?