Adventureland

Got the chance to see Adventureland last night - a post-teen coming-of-age flick that received really strong reviews on my primary movie source - rottentomatoes.com - an 88 out of 100!

I don't know... I liked it, but didn't really love it. It's a bit long, a bit slow and a nearly identical storyline to Almost Famous (a movie I thought was VERY good!)

I did love the music, a great mid-80's reminder of the many songs that seemed to follow us around on the radio. The ubiquitous "Rock Me Amadeus" made me laugh every time it appeared in the background - and that was how humor really worked in this movie. (Do you remember that "Wishing Well" song by Terence Trent D'Arby??? That hideous song spent about 3 months on a non-stop loop on Z100 at PLJ - I still shudder over it) The movie made me smile and chuckle, but lacked the uproarious nature of Superbad. But maybe that's ok. And as I write this, I am thinking that maybe it's better this way.

This movie perhaps just does its best work in making you think of that night you were driving in your friend's Mustang (because you didn't have your license yet) looking to meet up with Nicole Christiana or Tammy Coe or Kim Sahol or Beth Lancaster or Trisha Chieffo or SOMEONE to spend six hours of your night doing nothing, really, except creating those faint memories that you will one day look back on with a nostalgic smile.