Two of filmdom's most popular and enduring genres -- the coming-of-age story and the battle-of-the-sexes romantic/suspense thriller -- are on display in this week's DVD releases of Greg Mottola's "Adventureland" and Tony Gilroy's "Duplicity." Both writer-directors demonstrated in their previous work a sure touch in making youth-oriented comedy (Mottola's "Superbad") and adult-oriented drama (Gilroy's "Michael Clayton"), so their spring 2009 follow-ups were eagerly awaited.
"Adventureland" (Miramax/Buena Vista Home Entertainment, $29.99, rated R) is a funny yet touching story about one young man's summer job at a rundown amusement park in 1987. James (Jesse Eisenberg) is a recent college grad, a sensitive, literary type who majored in Renaissance Studies and has long-standing plans of taking a trip through Europe before starting graduate school in the fall. But his father's financial difficulties force James to forego his travels and find a job. His lack of real-world skills or previous employment makes the local Adventureland, with its unsafe rides, unwinnable games and inedible cuisine, his only choice.
While working in an amusement park produces some ludicrous situations for a studious, deep-thinking type like James, he's not the only fish out of water in such surroundings. He's shown the ropes by an awkward, geeky and scholarly guy named Joel (Martin Starr), who is wasting his life running stupid games. And the key person James meets at Adventureland is Em (Kirsten Stewart), an enigmatic, intelligent young woman whose shy smile barely conceals the inner turmoil in her life.
"Adventureland" has a few too many predictable jokes about amusement parks -- is there anything more obvious than making fun of corn dogs? -- and some stock characters, such as the overly enthusiastic (if very funny) park managers played by "Saturday Night Live's" Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig and the aging lothario played by Ryan Reynolds. But at its heart rests the tender and honest romance that blossoms between James and Em.
In the DVD documentary "Just My Life: The Making of 'Adventureland' " and in his audio commentary with Eisenberg, writer-director Mottola explains that his film was based in part on his own experiences as a young man working at an amusement park on Long Island. He certainly captures the '80s milieu with precision and sensitivity, and the soundtrack is a gold mine of some of the era's best (Crowded House, The Replacements, Lou Reed) and worst (Poison, Whitesnake, Judas Priest) groups.
In "Duplicity" (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, $29.98, rated PG-13), Julia Roberts and Clive Owen bring their exceptional good looks and considerable charm to their roles as government agents who become corporate spies and get involved in an undercover romance. And as supporting players, noted scenery chewers Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson emote all over the place as archrival corporate executives.
But the intricate plotting that served Gilroy so well in "Michael Clayton" and in his screenplays for "Proof of Life" and the three "Bourne" thrillers backfires in "Duplicity," as viewers easily get lost in a maze of double crosses, time shifts and location changes.
The film begins when CIA agent Claire Stenwick (Roberts) meets MI6 agent Ray Koval (Owen) at a diplomatic party in Dubai. She seduces him, drugs him and then steals some documents in his possession. As the years pass and they both move on to private espionage work, they run into each other professionally and continue their romantic relationship. All the while, lust competes with mistrust, as their sexual passion shares the stage with lies and duplicity.
Gilroy gives his glamorous stars plenty of opportunity for verbal jousting and sexual tension, in a manner reminiscent of Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in their combative romantic comedies from the late 1930s and early '40s ("The Awful Truth," "My Favorite Wife") or, for more recent antecedents, in caper films such as "The Thomas Crown Affair" and "Entrapment." But the charged repartee between Roberts' and Owen's characters grows predictable and tiresome after a while, and the film's too many plot twists leave a viewer initially confused but eventually indifferent.
(brucedancis(at)comcast.net.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Video Patrol
Post new comment