When I was at the University of Wisconsin, I was offered a summer job to work at Six Flags Great America in Chicago. It only paid $7 an hour and I had no place to live but it would have been a pretty neat experience. I was going to do it, but I let my friends talk me into staying in Madison for the summer because we had tickets for Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation tour. The Janet concert sucked, it was a good summer anyway, but I’ll always regret not going to Chicago to do that job. Watching Adventureland makes me wonder what would have happened if I took that job. From the guy who brought us the awful, vulgar Superbad comes a surprisingly sweet little movie about a pretentious College grad played by Jesse Eisenberg who finds the love of his life at a crappy little Amusement park. The movie features two newly minted superstars Twlight’s Kristen Stewart and Ryan Reynolds. The problem with the movie is, there’s no chemistry between Stewart and Eisenberg and none of the other characters felt real to me. Miramax did a nice job on the 1080p transfer. I can’t find any fault with the picture quality it’s crisp and clean, the colors are vibrant but look a bit washed out in spots. There audio is 5.1 DTS-HD in English and Dolby Digital for the French and Portuguese – two odd choices for alternative language tracks. The Subtitles are in 18 different languages. I didn’t like the menu navigation at all; it’s really bright and busy. The movie has a great soundtrack but the audio mix sounded somewhat muted.
Trailers
- Extract
- 10 Things I Hate About You Special Edition
- Miramax Blu-ray Commercial
Features
- Digital Copy
- Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Greg Mottola and Actor Jesse Eisenberg
- Music Selection feature that lets you jump to scenes featuring specific Music
- Deleted Scenes (4) (HD)
- Just My Life: The Making of Adventureland (SD) (17 Min)
- Frigo’s Ball Taps (HD) (2 Min)
- Lisa P’s Guide to Style (HD) (2 Min)
- Welcome to Adventureland – 4 Fake Adventureland videos including a couple of commercials and an Employee Orientation Video.
Conclusion
Miramax Home Video did a nice job on this Blu-ray disk. The picture quality is very nice but looks a bit washed out. It’s hard to believe this movie is from the same guy who did the vulgar Superbad. This movie has a nice sweetness to it but I’m not a Kristen Stewart fan, she’s way too serious and lifeless here. This would be a good weekend rental but not worth a purchase.
Grades
- Movie – C
- Video Quality – B
- Audio – B
- Menu – C
- Features – B-
Final Overall Grade – C
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally posted 9.03.09