There are a lot of qualities to Adventureland (2009), and there are some unfortunate aspects.  Then again, that is life, is it not?  I am as guilty as anyone else in terms of being a sinner, but I also know I can be redeemed with God’s help.  One of those deviations from God on my part is wanting the world around me to conform to my own desires instead of following His wishes for my life.  Another way to think about what I am describing can be found in the old cliché that says while we plan, God laughs.  I am speaking in philosophical and spiritual terms that are specific to me, but the characters in today’s film wrestle with similar themes.  Of course, their sins are more of the kind that so many young people fall victim to because society tells them they have needs of a less than Christian variety.  I can never be too condemnatory because I am not innocent of some of those behaviors despite my repentance.  Indeed, modern culture increasingly tells us that Christianity, and Catholicism along with it, is part of a tradition divergent from what is trendy, a sort of popularity makes right.  While I do not condone drugs, excessive drinking, or pre-marital sex, I believe that the only thing that separates those who take Faith seriously and the rest of humanity is giving in to the urge to repent.  God created us for loftier purposes and as these characters drown their knowledge of this fact by grasping for the profane, we can see in their ultimate choices that which best reveals God: love.

It is love that is on James Brennan’s (Jesse Eisenberg) heart when we first meet him in Adventureland.  He has a passion for his upcoming summer trip to Europe, a present from his father (Jack Gilpin) and mother (Wendie Malick) for graduating college.  James is sharing this with his current girlfriend right before she breaks up with him.  This terrible development is followed by the Brennans telling their son that they cannot afford to send him across the Atlantic as they promised.  James going to graduate school is also in doubt.  With promises from Eric (Michael Zegen), James’ college roommate, to help with a place to stay in the Fall in New York City, James heads to Pittsburgh to try to find work and salvage his dreams of becoming a journalist.  The one place that hires him, much to Mrs. Brennan’s horror, is the eponymous, run-down theme park.  The manager, Bobby (Bill Hader), and his wife Paulette (Kristen Wiig), immediately deem James fit for the game booths rather than the rides as he hoped.  James’ disappointment over his assignment is soon dissipated when he spots Em Lewin (Kristen Stewart).  As he gets to know his job with the help of his new friend, the equally intellectual Joel (Martin Starr), she saves James from having to get rides home from a childhood acquaintance and co-worker, Tommy Frigo (Matt Bush).  Tommy is constantly punching his former friend between the legs, so I cannot blame James.  It is evident from the time that Em and James spend together that they like each other, though there are complications.  What kind of movie would this be without those?  Em is currently sleeping with Mike Connell (Ryan Reynolds), a married man and park maintenance man whom everyone finds mysterious because he claims to have once played with Lou Reed (not pictured).  As for James, though he is a pretty honest person, he is hesitant to reveal to women that despite going to college, he is still a virgin.  Though he has not been purposely saving himself in good Catholic fashion, he does explain that he wants it to be with someone with whom he is in love.  Here is to small victories, anyway.  They spend a lot of time together, and James admits to Mike that he is in love with her.  As Em and James get closer, she continues to sleep with Mike, though the handyman says nothing of the affair to James.  Indeed, nobody at the park knows in spite of rumors.  Much of this is brushed to the side by the staff by the return of Lisa P. (Margarita Levieva), the girl all the guys want.  Because of James’ feelings for Em, he mostly ignores Lisa.  He is friendly, despite this, and they share a joint.  Otherwise it remains platonic.  The dynamic changes when James informs Em that he loves her, and she says she is not ready for such feelings.  Shortly thereafter, mainly to avoid having to go out with another guy, Lisa asks James on a date.  There is more drug use, unfortunately, as well as some rather forward behavior, but the night ends in a rather PG-13 fashion.  In the wake of James’ night out with Lisa, which he tries to keep private, Em finally makes known her love for him.  Because of his penchant for honesty, he tells her about having dinner with Lisa and how they made out afterwards.  Em feels betrayed and seeks Mike for comfort but with the intention of putting an end to their affair.  While this takes place, James learns of the dalliance and goes to confront her.  There is obvious hurt on both sides.  He then goes on to make the matter worse by telling Lisa about what has been going on between Em and Mike.  Soon, everyone at the park knows the sordid details, prompting Em to quit.  James is not much longer for the job, leaving it before the last weekend of the season before it closes for the winter.  Upon spending one last evening with Joel, who tells him about how Herman Melville died in obscurity, James decides to head to New York City.  He does so without Eric, who has decided to go to Harvard Law School rather than joining James.  Instead, James comes to the Big Apple for Em, who also goes to school in the city.  They forgive each other and the film ends with them, for a true lack of a better term at this time, making love.

You can understand why I hesitated to say “making love” to describe what Em and James do at the end of Adventureland. It is certainly how James sees what he is doing, but the Church says otherwise.  I am not necessarily trying to make a semantical argument, either.  One of the problems with modern culture and its drift away from Christian ideals is a growing confusion between love and sex.  Married couples make love, but it is not them alone in the bedroom.  If you study what the Church says about the matter, particularly as promulgated by Pope St. John Paul the Great, intercourse completes a union with God by taking part in His procreative process.  This does not mean that every time a husband and wife are intimate it must result in conception.  At the same time, we should be open to it, otherwise we a contributing to a culture of death.  I do not mean to sound so strident, and God knows I have had my own struggles.  Please also remember that God loves you and me.  It is also difficult to imagine either Em or James having any of this on their minds in that final scene, which is one of many errors, in a Christian sense, in the film.  Related to their horniness is the repeated phrase that men behave in overly sexual ways because that is simply their nature.  This is not meant to be taken seriously, but it is a stereotype that some believe all the same.  To further underscore the inherent problems with such blanket statements, I would point to Em carrying on with Mike.  The best argument against this idea, naturally, comes from God.  Again referencing Theology of the Body, God did create us with a desire for sex.  It is something every human must contend with, even priests.  That priests exist at all would suggest that our carnal sides need not rule us.  Biology, as some would call it, is a determining factor in our lives, but it is not determinate.  God made us to be able to overcome purely animal instincts, which we would be no better than if we did not have the Divine.  It is love of God that separates us.  There are whispers of this in James, especially when he tells Lisa that he believes in love when she asks him if he believes in God.  This kind of answer is incomplete but it is better than nothing.

Adventureland also gives an incomplete picture of Catholicism, again relying stereotypes, but that is probably to be expected.  It is interesting, still, that the only characters that confess a religion refer to themselves as Catholic.  These are unfortunate representations, and I feel like I focused more on the negative in the film than the positive.  There is good in it, but it is hidden beneath layers of questionable material.