Adventureland

[Note: Adventureland is the most recent DVD that I've purchased, and because it took so long to arrive in the mail, I have to backdate this entry and pause in my enjoyment of the Alien sequels. Feel free to apply a tinge of sarcasm at the end there.]

In 1987, I was 12 years old. I had an allowance that I spent on comic books and baseball cards and that was pretty much my life. There were no summer jobs to be had in amusement parks. There were no amusement parks in my town. We had a county fair.

Besides, I was 12. What was I going to do? I was still a few years from my first summer job at a local pool (not far off in comparison to this film, come to think of it).

I never knew a Connell, or a Lisa P., or an Em. I was never James. I was never embroiled in summer job workplace drama as depicted in this film. My parents were too overprotective for me to experience much before I got to college and finally moved out of the house.

But none of that stops me from relating to this film.

The film's affectionate, yet informed nostalgia works because it's not just one or the other. I may not remember the people as depicted here, but I remember the 1980s as more or less depicted here. They don't overdo it with the Zubaz pants and stupid huge hair and period slang, and they don't shove '80s mall rock down our throats. The mall rock is there, but they also toss in lesser-known INXS, and at least two Replacements songs.

They don't parody the 1980s as in The Wedding Singer or any number of films. There is a love for the time period despite subtle, ironic gestures such as the father sleeping in his chair during one of President Reagan's Iran-Contra-era speeches about how America wasn't paying attention.

Instead, the filmmakers strike just the right balance. I don't remember anyone in the 1980s listening to Husker Du or The Replacements, but when I got into music heavily several years later, I recognized the names. I'd seen the posters, heard a few of the songs, and recognized more than I expected.

And really, that's what watching this film felt like. Bravo.