I want to talk first about actress Kristen Stewart's face. It's a beautiful face, of course. She has a small, downturned mouth that suggests vulnerability. And the muscles in her forehead do amazing things. But it's her haunted eyes that really come across. Looking into her eyes, you sense some past damage. She always understates, which is killer effective. I can't wait to see her portray Joan Jett in The Runaways next year.

Adventureland is Greg Mottolla showing that his writing and directing chops have only increased since Superbad, which was a horny high school student romp while this is kind of a horny graduate student romp. The dialogue comes close to being almost too clever for its own good. Terrific lines are tossed off so casually they can go right past you.

Set in 1987, when I was in my 30s, I can testify to the authenticity. The soundtrack is amazing. If you were at all hip in 1987, you loved the Replacements but were appalled by "Rock Me Amadeus." And the Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes" has always needed a movie to be part of. This is that movie. And, in 1987, if you were young, marijuana was your oxygen.

The movie itself is formulaic boy meets girl -- this time, at a cheesy amusement park one summer. Ryan Reynolds and Kristen Wiig operate the park, which has low-rent rides and "games" that are impossible to beat. Boy and girl working at the park fall in love. But she has a secret -- she's having clandestine sex with a married man. The arc of the movie is entirely predictable, but that's not the point. We grow to really like these people and end up glad to have spent some time with them.