More than the announcement of a director or a cast, the trailer for a movie will often have more direct impact on how people will perceive a movie long before any critics get to screen it. Some movies turned out to be great, but had horrible trailers. Unfortunately, the reverse is the more common tale: a great trailer hides a bad movie. Even worse is the case where a trailer makes you think a movie is about X when really it is about ABC. The trailer for Adventureland falls into this latter category.
Lisa and I found ourselves wanting food and a movie. Food was a fairly easy decision, but should have been an omen to how things would turn out: we wanted BBQ, but it was closed on Easter – so we had Chinese. While eating, we debated whether to see Adventureland or Observe and Report. We chose Adventureland because we thought it would be more light-hearted than Seth Rogen’s dark, bipolar character. Heather agreed to meet us at the Regal Winter Park, so off we went…
The movie centers around a young man just graduated from college whose financial options have dried up. To even think about grad school, he must get a summer job at the local theme park (filmed on location in Pittsburgh, as Heather was happy to point out). Typical plot points evolve: a love interest that is not easily attainable, the “hot” girl that everyone wants, the idiot friend. It is set in 1987, so the soundtrack has a cool vibe. Ryan Reynolds has a bit part as part of a love triangle.
Story is decent enough and the cast is likeable enough, but overall the movie had that typical indie-feel to it. Unfortunately, all of the funny bits with Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig had been shown in the trailers. This is a movie that is more often serious and melancholy than it is funny. I just wish the marketing department had not tried to sell us something different. Due to the bad trailer/movie pairing, its box office was hurt even more than it would have from word-of-mouth about an average movie.
My advice: wait for cable or netflix – dollar theater if you are bored…