IFWT #17 - Adventureland (2009)

Following the cultural phenomenon that was 2007's Superbad, director Greg Mottola followed it with the more personal and semi-autobiographical Adventureland (2009). A coming-of-age comedy-drama revolving around James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) who, after his father's demotion at work, is forced to get a summer job at the titular Adventureland to fund his planned trip to Europe before the start of university. It is there he meets Em (Kristen Stewart) whom he immediately forms a bond with.  

 Using the Adventureland park as the background to examine the love, heartbreak and the messiness of those formative years, Mottola's Adventureland is sensitive, sophisticated and reflective of all our own experiences.