Photo courtesy of Abbot Genser / Miramax Films.

Fact: I have never worked at an amusement park. I could never deal with the reality of the repetition of “Rock Me Amadeus,” spoiled corn dogs and adolescents who can’t hold their vomit. But despite this, the staff of aged rock stars, overenthusiastic supervisors and jaded townies at Adventureland manages to make working for minimum wage at a substandard amusement park an appealing alternative to yet another summer internship. Writer and director Greg Mottola’s Adventureland chronicles the summer of 1987 and all the sex, mini joints and drunk driving that go along with a seemingly dead-end future. Ah, to live in the ’80s.

After his post-college, pre-graduate school European vacation is cut short because of financial shortcomings, James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) finds himself back at home with his parents without a job, without a girlfriend and without any prospects on either front. From the start, it’s difficult to ignore the parallels between Brennan’s post-graduation employment struggles and the currently dismal job market. Luckily, Brennan presents a job opportunity any college graduate should be able to secure when he joins the staff of Adventureland in a last-ditch attempt to finance his graduate studies at Columbia University in the fall. Drawing on his own experiences, Mottola effectively kills the illusion of glitz and the joy of a day at an amusement park as Brennan and his co-workers expose the truth behind manipulated carnival games and corn dogs sold despite sitting in the sun for a day.

Fresh off his success with Superbad, Mottola sets the ’80s as the backdrop of his story, hinting at the decade that brought us hair metal and Say Anything… without presenting it as the focus of the film. Eric Clapton posters hang in Brennan’s room; Em Lewin (Kristen Stewart) plays an 8-track in her beat up car; Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds) boasts of his jam session with Lou Reed to any underage girl that will listen. The nostalgia works everywhere it is offered and serves as a reason for a badass ’80s soundtrack. The references set up a distinct generation often thought of as slackers, but Mottola refuses to make the decade’s characteristics the spotlight of the story.

Rather, the concentration of the film, the heart and the reason why Adventureland manages to escape the constraints of other coming-of-age stories is the honesty and authenticity of the characters. Eisenberg’s James Brennan is soft-spoken and slightly awkward; a virgin whose genuine shyness and stuttering speech strikes a chord of sincerity. Each of Mottola’s characters is utterly real: from the way they speak to the manner in which the employees handle their friendships and relationships, nothing seems outwardly dramatic or superficial. Brennan’s roots in academia have him quoting Shakespeare in seedy bars and his candor leads him to admit to possibly cheating before he’s even caught. His love interest and fellow Adventureland employee, Em, has a magnetism about her that endures throughout. It is the humility with which each character approaches everyday life and hardships that make them relatable and pleasing to watch.