‘Adventureland’: Puppy love, with bite

There's a good reason that Kristen Stewart won the female lead in the "Twilight" franchise.

She can be the most attractive girl in the group without being the prettiest - you get why she catches the eye of the school's alpha vampire, but she's accessible enough to invite regular-gal identification.

Stewart occupies the same space in "Adventureland" playing Emma, a bored teen working a summer theme-park job who takes an interest in clumsy newbie James (Jesse Eisenberg), a brainy kid who's intriguingly out of place in his no-brainer job.

James' ticket for Ivy League grad school is revoked when his dad loses his job, stranding him in Pittsburgh with a degree in comparative literature. He takes a minimum-wage job at the park (actually Kennywood Park, in Pittsburgh) and views it as purgatory until he spots Emma.

"Adventureland" has an easy-going comic surface, and a lot of the charm comes from its time (1987) and place. There's always something uniquely fun about revisiting the crazy quilt of '80s music - kids drink beer and talk about Lou Reed while listening to a Foreigner cover band. And writer-director Greg Mottola ("Superbad") makes wonderful use of throwback Kennywood, adding to the infectious nostalgia trip.

Mottola keeps it light, and underplays the dark side of Em that Jesse finds so alluring - her mom is dead, her dad has hastily remarried and Em is confused and unsure of herself. She sends mixed signals to James, which he finds predictably fascinating.

James is bright, but also young and naive enough to think that true love will solve Emma's problems. And he's so thunderstruck he doesn't notice that Em's mysterious (to him) lack of self-esteem has led her into an exploitive affair with the theme park's local (married) stud (Ryan Reynolds).

Eventually, the movie gets slightly serious as feelings are hurt and emotional wounds are opened - but only slightly. Mottola keeps it loose, and devotes ample time to the movie's loony cast of side characters. Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, for example, are the wigged-out family-owner-proprietors.

"Adventureland" is not as uproarious as "Superbad," but has a little more heart, and is a cut above most one-crazy-summer teen movies. *

Produced by Ted Hope, Anne Carey and S*dney K*mmel, wr*tten and d*rected by Greg Mottola, d*str*buted by M*ramax F*lms.