Largely overshadowed by the more high profile work of stars Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, sweetly nostalgic 1980s set coming of age story Adventureland is a film that deserves greater recognition. As the film's narrative involves Ryan Reynolds' theme park maintenance technician taking Eisenberg's shy teen under his wing and seducing the cool but damaged Stewart with his bogus tales of his rock connections, Adventureland makes good use of a soundtrack of songs from the era. Lou Reed's Satellite of Love, in particular, is a repeated reference. However, the film also comes with an original score from indie trio Yo La Tengo. The New Jersey band had previously scored a handful of low key, quirky indie films including dysfunctional family dramedy Junebug and non-simulated sex based comedy Shortbus, composing work that they collected on the album They Shoot, We Score. Adventureland, however, is probably their most high profile film work to date. The movie struck a subtler, more bittersweet tone than director Greg Mottola's previous teen comedy Superbad or his follow-up Paul and, as a result, there is a good musical fit in the melodic, tuneful indie of a band whose almost 30 year career straddles the time period of the film's setting and its production.
