10 Best Films of 2009: Owen Gleiberman’s Picks (Adventureland)

EW’s critic includes a nostalgic look at the summer of ’87, a WW II grindhouse fairy tale, and a movie that inspires George Clooney’s most finely honed performance among the year’s top new releases. Plus: The five worst films of the past 12 months

10. Adventureland
Remember that summer job you had in college — the cruddy one that somehow coincided with growing up? Greg Mottola’s lovely comedy about an earnest, virginal liberal-arts geek (Jesse Eisenberg) working at an amusement park in 1987 brings you right back to those wistful summertime blues. It’s also the first film that captures the ’80s — not just the clothes, music, hair, and slang but the vibe — with the sublimely nostalgic texture that Dazed and Confused brought to the ’70s and American Graffiti to the end of the greaser era. Eisenberg proves a true star, finding a way to make insecurity sexy, and if you think Kristen Stewart is a one-trick Twilight pony, just check out her work here. She’s saucy and gorgeously neurotic, a girl born to make you go: Hey now, don’t dream it’s over.

Source: EW

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