MovieChat Forums > Adventureland (2009) Discussion > My problem with these type of movies.

My problem with these type of movies.

posted 13 years ago by tourangh
6 replies | jump to latest

So movies like this are feel good romantic comedies that use the nice guy winning as they're drawing point.
James is supposed to be your typical romantically awkward nice guy. He ends up getting the girl. Everyone is happy...

In real life the nice guy is 99% of the time in Joel's shoes. They end up waking away empty handed.

Maybe I'm just bitter, but these feel good movies that show empathy to the nice are very unrealistic.

That being said, I loved the movie.

[–] The_tim 13 years ago

Yeah you're right, life sucks and movies are unrealstic. Although I too liked Adventureland. You should try something more grim, like Head-On (2004) or Seven Pounds.

[–] voided-1 13 years ago

I think you're generalising and grouping this movie unfairly with standard rom-coms. I think there is a level of realism that makes this story believable. Also, not everyone is happy at the end: Joel is disilusioned with life and his future. James's father is trapped in a nightmare marriage with only alcohol for comfort. Em's issues with her father and stepmother are completely unresolved. Not everything is tied up neatly. In fact, Em and James's reunion is really the only positive thing. After all, James still has to earn money somehow. I found this film convincing and this is what raises it above so many mediocre films of this genre.

"By being alive he is blocking his own way. From this, he derives the proof that he is alive."

[–] WavesBeneath 13 years ago

voided-1 is spot-on.

There's really one happy ending for 2 characters: Em and James. Everybody else doesn't really get their own happy ending.

[–] osubuckeye420 12 years ago

Exactly.

It's not like Em was this unobtainable prize either. She was extremely emotionally damaged... there's tons of girls like that out there that marginally attractive or "nice" guys end up with.

Then agian we don't even know if they ended up together. He very well could have banged her, stuck around for a few weeks, realized he made a horrible mistake (or she could have realized she made a horrible mistake) then hightailed it back to Pittsburgh.

I enjoyed the movie a lot. Not an all time classic, but it was definitely worth the rainy day Netflix instant stream click.

[–] filmdog1 13 years ago

I guess the reason this type of movie has a market is for those of us who want to escape the 99% reality of awkward guy getting totally rejected by the cute girl.

This movie does seem to have more depth than others of this genre in as much as it explores imperfect individuals making less than perfect decisions. However, in the end, we do get the Hollywood ending- he gets the girl, and for the moment, we might believe there is hope.

Maybe, there is something in this movie that can teach those people (guy or girl), who are socially awkward like James, to feel good about themselves. Get up to bat and take a swing. After all, James, in all of his awkwardness, was out playing the game.

[–] jamorse_99 12 years ago

I just read the article below and it reminded me of this post

http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-things-movies-always-get-wrong-about-awkward-people_p2/

Yes, this movie is terribly unrealistic just pandering to what the audience wants. No way this really happened.