I watched Adventureland after listening to the 'Best of 2009 so far' episode. I was intrigued by the reminder that 'The Daytrippers' was a Mottola film- I've always had a pleasant memory of that film and thought it was under-appreciated. I have not seen Superbad, nor most other teen comedies including any of the American Pie series, etc. The only other films in this age genre I have seen and liked was Harvard Man, and (with reservations) Art School Confidential.
It would be easy to target the soundtrack (as Mottola mentions in the dvd commentary track), but my biggest disappointment/complaint here was seeing the film set in 1987. Huge let down, as this excluded by a one year default one of the greatest pop songs in history and a classic of the era from being what could have been the most fitting, perfect song for this film/ perfect film for this song. I saw several places where it would/could/ should have been. Had the setting been 1988, 'Under The Milky Way' by The Church (released in Feb '88) would have been absolute perfection. What a tragedy.
The Lou Reed thing was kind of amusing, now that I'm picking on the soundtrack (which is fantastic, except for Falco). Lou reed was kind of invisible and forgotten in the 80's, until '89, when his career was revitalized by the spectacular New York release. Most of his notoriety during the 80's was by homage from other artists covering his VU classics- Sweet Jane, All Tomorrow's Parties, Sister Ray... Tom Waits would have been more Lou Reed for the 80's than Lou, though Lou made for a great soundtrack.
Upon reflection and review, I think Kristen Stewart did a very fine job with not much concrete to work on. That is not to say the character was thin or poorly written, but that it was a true to life character, and most of her difficult work was in very brief expressions that had to convey important information, and for the most part were not central camera focus. I was a little disappointed with the ending- the very end, the last 20 seconds. The ending should have been about her, beginning to accept and experience love, but as true as most of the film seemed, maybe that came later, or not.
This film looked like it was going to be a summer version of Fast Times At Ridgemont when the Lisa P character entered, but it wasn't quite that simple.
Martin Starr was excellent.