Adventureland: Critic Reviews

88%

MovieWeb: 7 reviews

89%

RottenTomatoes: 202 reviews

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Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly (Top Critic)

84

Adventureland doesn't quite soar -- it lopes along affectionately. But for nostalgia junkies, it's one from the heart.
Full Review » 3 years ago
A.O. Scott New York Times (Top Critic)

80

The film, written and directed by Greg Mottola, plants its flag in thoroughly explored territory, but that familiarity turns out to be integral to its loose and scruffy appeal.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Peter Bradshaw Guardian [UK] (Top Critic)

80

A tremendously funny and touching coming-of-age story, which he has set in the 1980s with a sprinkling of nicely chosen cultural references.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Claudia Puig USA Today (Top Critic)

63

While Adventureland may shift moods suddenly and meander, the highlight is Eisenberg's ability to endearingly convey gawkiness and mortification.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Ann Hornaday Washington Post (Top Critic)

Thanks to an exceptionally deft touch, Mottola manages to capture the absurdity and anguish of young adulthood, while never sacrificing meaning on the altar of crude humor.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Wesley Morris Boston Globe (Top Critic)

50

It's the sort of flavorless, willfully quirky, occasionally amusing slice of suburban boredom that, for years, has given the Sundance Film Festival its soft, gooey center.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Scott Foundas Village Voice (Top Critic)

I've seen Mottola's movie twice, and both times, it has inspired feelings of joy, sadness, and a profound yearning for the unrecoverable past.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Joe Neumaier New York Daily News (Top Critic)

60

Adventureland earns its edge-of-adulthood sweetness and has characters with real hearts under their goofy T-shirts.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Joe Morgenstern Wall Street Journal (Top Critic)

There's no shortage of felicitous lines or interesting performances, yet the movie, like the amusement park of its title, feels constructed from familiar parts.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Amy Biancolli Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

50

The youths of Superbad were a little bit younger, a little more likable, their dirty-virgin wit more hilarious [than in Adventureland].
Full Review » 3 years ago
Christopher Kelly Dallas Morning News (Top Critic)

67

There's no mistaking Mottola's sincerity or his talent.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Lisa Kennedy Denver Post (Top Critic)

63

It proves Mottola has a sweet sensibility for intimate grins, as well as broad yuks.
Full Review » 3 years ago
James Rocchi MSN Movies (Top Critic)

80

Mottola's made a movie that will work like a voodoo charm on a small-but-dedicated audience: onetime slackers who'll not only dig the soundtrack but, probably, be sure to get it on vinyl.
Full Review » 3 years ago
David Edelstein New York Magazine (Top Critic)

What makes the movie such an unexpectedly potent little number is that Adventureland comes to stand for Stagnationland; the real roller coaster (i.e., life) is just outside the park.
Full Review » 3 years ago
David Denby New Yorker (Top Critic)

The story is semi-autobiographical, but has a gentler touch than his prior work on Superbad, and certainly relies less on slapstick episodes.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times (Top Critic)

75

Director Greg Mottola, who made the rather wonderful Superbad, is back now with a sweeter story, more quietly funny, again about a hero who believes he may be a virgin outstaying his shelf life.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune (Top Critic)

100

A little warmer, a little funnier and a lot more truthful than the last 20 or 30 of its ilk.
Full Review » 3 years ago
J. R. Jones Chicago Reader (Top Critic)

Like its models, this is funny, smart, and complacent.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Steven Rea Philadelphia Inquirer (Top Critic)

75

Adventureland mixes the intimate, indie vibe of Daytrippers with the absurdist screwball streak of Superbad, to winning effect.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Colin Covert Minneapolis Star Tribune (Top Critic)

88

Writer/director Greg Mottola's followup to his hit Superbad is the most utterly and engagingly human youth comedy I've seen in ages.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Tom Long Detroit News (Top Critic)

59

Yes, you've seen much of it before, and the nervous James character is now officially a cliche. But Stewart makes you care anyway. This, folks, is an actress.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Bill Goodykoontz Arizona Republic (Top Critic)

80

A worthy effort, several cuts above the teen comedies that came out of the era it depicts while managing to capture it thoroughly.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Todd McCarthy Variety (Top Critic)

Adventureland unspools as a rather ordinary account of youthful summer misadventures that goes down easily thanks to a sparky cast.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Kyle Smith New York Post (Top Critic)

88

Adventureland isn't as clever as Kicking, and not nearly as hilarious as Superbad, but it's still a sweet little memory ache, a Proustian cookie co-flavored with semiotics and Whitesnake.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

60

The only adventure here will be for kids too young to know what 'coming of age' means. And they can't get into an R-rated movie.
Full Review » 3 years ago