Thursday, April 09, 2009

Corn Dogs & Angst

Greg Mottola’s Adventureland is a fine film.  I saw it last night, after months of living in fear of this movie.  Well… “that’s a little hyperbolic,” to quote the film.  I haven’t been scared of Adventureland, just overcome with waves of angst.  You see, I spent a year writing a spec script about a wacky summer in a derelict amusement park.  It was called Amusement Park—provocative!  It was the first screenplay I ever wrote, and I am still emotionally attached to portions of the story.

Unfortunately, the superficial similarities between Adventureland and Amusement Park pretty much guarantee that my script will never be seriously considered for production.  (Nevermind that it was never intended for production, but instead as a portfolio piece, or proof that I have a voice worth listening to.)  I stopped revising the script when it became obvious that Adventureland was a real thing, a film that people would see.  I’m not heartbroken; this kind of thing happens all the time, I continue to write (stronger) scripts, and I still have Amusement Park in my portfolio.

If you’d like to read Amusement Park, shoot me an email.  There’s no reason to keep it close to my chest.  It’s WGA-registered and all that rot, so there’s not much left to do except put it on the mantle and keep writing.  If you take the time to read it, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts & opinions.

The Turkish Twist, Canobie Lake Park, Salem NH.  Any resemblance my script bears to the real Canobie Lake Park is purely coincidental.

Adventureland is more The Graduate than Superbad.  Mottola absolutely nails the gritty, depressing, suburban-microcosmic world of the independent amusement park (and the characters who inhabit it).  The portrayal of an extramarital affair was also rendered with sympathetic honesty.  I wasn’t as immediately taken by his portrayal of post-college hopelessness; I never cared about James’s Eurotrip Lost, or the grad school funding drying up—these felt like writer’s constructs.  “See, this kid has dreams, and when this kid’s dreams are thwarted, our story begins!”  Thankfully these conceits become more palpable as the film goes on—Mottola pokes wry little holes in James’s master plan, even as circumstance prevents our hero from pursuing his (supposed) dream career.

There are also some wonderful supporting performances in Adventureland.  Martin Starr—who I haven’t seen since Freaks and Geeks—is particularly great.  See it when you can.