'Adventureland'

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - Fresh from college with a degree in Renaissance studies, young James (Jesse Eisenberg) anticipates a fun-filled European summer.

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But Dad's recent downsizing means there's no cash for a Riviera cavort, much less grad school. So unless someone needs help restoring a fresco, this graduate is out of luck.

Which is how the fantastically overqualified James comes to work at a seedy amusement park that will provide an education to rival that of the Ivy League.

Greg Mottola's "Adventureland" is a bittersweet affair, not nearly as raucous as some of the other work in this writer/director's resume ("Superbad," TV's "Arrested Development"). With its attention to character and to the details of its setting (Pittsburgh 1987), "Adventureland" has more in common with his1996 comedy/drama "The Daytrippers."

The cerebral and virginal James gets a crash course in minimum-wage ethos when's he put to work running various games (usually rigged) by the oddball owners of the titular amusement park ("SNL's" Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig).

He's sobered to discover that the employee with whom he has the most in common is Joel (Martin Starr), a bespectacled, pipe-puffing sad sack who majored in the equally useless Russian lit. Perhaps James can learn some life lessons at the feet of Mike (Ryan Reynolds), the charismatic maintenance guy who is in his 30s, carries a guitar to work and claims to have jammed with Lou Reed.

For eye candy there's Lisa P (Margarita Levieva), a classic tease who taunts the boys but never delivers. But far more intriguing is Em ("Twilight's" Kristen Stewart), another game operator whose cynical aura of studied ennui only makes her that much more attractive.

If his plot falls into a predictable pattern, Mottola is able to work some attractive variations with his strong cast. Eisenberg ("Roger Dodger," "The Squid and the Whale") scores as a squeaky clean kid trying desperately not to seem so innocent. Reynolds has one of his more complex parts as the role model with feet of clay. And in supporting roles Hader and Wiig steal scenes as a married couple who make sense only to each other.

The real winner is Stewart, who sinks her teeth into what could have been a window-dressing role and gives Em's despair a depth that resonates. She's much better here than in "Twilight."

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ADVENTURELAND

2 ˝ stars

Director: Greg Mottola

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Martin Starr, Ryan Reynolds

Rated: R for language, drug use and sexual references

Running time: 1:47

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© 2009, The Kansas City Star.