Following the success and excess of Superbad, director Greg Mottola is back for teenage kicks in a lower key with this self-penned tale of McJobbers on a quest for some summer lovin' (as opposed to McLovin' on a quest for jollies).

Wisely, Mottola doesn't try to reinvent the comedy wheel. He's simply taken the plot-free route of Superbad, made the like-for-like swap of Jesse Eisenberg for Michael Cera, upscaled the romance, downsized the slapstick, and set it all in 1987 for the sake of nostalgia.

Even then, it wears its Eighties trappings lightly. Only the ubiquitous tatty, screen-printed T-shirts, the absence of mobile phones and the constant aural bombardment of Falco's Rock Me Amadeus give away Adventureland's place in time.

The result is a quietly amusing and refreshingly straightforward look at the limbo between teenage irresponsibility and the grim reality of adulthood.

James (Eisenberg) is all set for a mind-broadening, pre-college trip to Europe when his parents' sudden financial shortfall means that he must get a summer job instead.

Unused to putting his sharp mind to menial tasks - “I'm not even qualified for manual labour!” - he eventually finds himself amongst the nerds and nimrods who man the sideshows at Adventureland, a theme park so cheap that it's a sackable offence to allow customers to win a giant-ass toy panda.

The only respite comes from booze, weed, and the hope of catching the eye of any female co-worker bored enough to take pity on a fellow loser.

But where most of the guys are struck by the Barbie Doll charms of day-glo hottie Lisa B (Margarita Levieva), James prefers the company of the paler but much more interesting Em (Stewart). Better yet, she likes him too.

The trouble is, she's secretly sleeping with Connell the maintenance man (Reynolds) who not only jammed with Lou Reed, but is also very married.

While the regulation boy-meets-girl scenario meanders through the usual ups and downs, it's the boys and girls themselves who raise Adventureland out of so-what slackery.

With Eisenberg and Stewart making a credible centre, Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig figures of daffy fun as the park's owners, and Reynolds playing his philandering dog with a rueful shrug, everyone adds to the buzz.

Even the stock characters raise a smile with banter that astutely captures the mentality of a generation that's always thought the world owes it a living.

And with a soundtrack that eschews the usual Eighties standards in favour of Crowded House, The Cure's Just Like Heaven and the awesome Dance Hall Days by Wang Chung, it's the movie equivalent of hanging out in the park with a tape-chewing beatbox and bottle of cider.

Elliott Noble