ADVENTURELAND ***½

Written and directed by Greg Mottola this comedy features: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Kristen Wiig, and Bill Hader. Rated R for language, drug use and sexual references. Running time is one hour and forty-seven minutes.

An uptight recent college grad (Eisenberg) has to take a lowly job at a local amusement park (run by Hader and Wiig). Lucky for him, what should have been his worst summer ever turns into quite an adventure as he discovers love in the most unlikely place with a captivating co-worker (Stewart), and learns to loosen up.

I can't say I had high hopes for this film but it turned out to be much better than expected. It's a coming-of-age film without all the ridiculous antics that usually ruin films of this type. Its humor is more amusing than strident and it has an aura of sweetness to its story that came as a complete surprise. What really draws you in is the fact the story is believable and you come to really care about the two lead characters. The R rating is well deserved, basically for the language. This won't be winning any awards but if you're looking for an enjoyable couple of hours at the movies, this will fill the bill nicely.