Part of the attraction of nostalgia is knowing. It’s the innate recognition of the time, the place, the sensations and the sentiments. It’s memory reconfigured as reality, yet filtered, so as to remain sparkling. When done well in film, such wistfulness is winning. Done poorly, and it results in a mere period-piece implausibility. For writer/director Greg Mottola, the late ’80s represent the final act in a sort of social innocence, a time when even college kids had to ask Mom and Dad for the family car. After the wild success of Superbad, the filmmaker is back with Adventureland, his homage to one significant summer.

For graduate James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg), life is just not turning out right. His parents at first promise to fund his planned trip to Europe but then hit him with the horrible news that they cannot afford to. Forced to get a summer job, James winds up at Adventureland, a pathetic Pennsylvania amusement park run by Bobby (Bill Hader), his slightly dense wife, Paulette (Kristen Wiig), and a rogue’s gallery of social rejects, including uber-nerd Joel (Martin Starr). James also meets Em (Kristen Stewart), a like-minded gal with dreams of something bigger. As their relationship blossoms, our hero gains a greater perspective on life, living, and what’s truly important.

Like the first scent of autumn on a warm summer evening, Adventureland is recollection made magical. It’s not some stupid sex comedy or a John Hughes-inspired romp through greed decade sound cues. Instead, Mottola manages the near impossible: He turns a small story in an isolated locale into a primer for everyone’s personal emotions and a statement of universal truths. This is an ear-to-ear experience, the kind of movie that leaves a smile beaming from one side of your face to the other. And it’s not just the expertly realized details or pitch-perfect performances. Mottola makes this version of suburban Pittsburgh, with its dead-end aspirations and junk car climate, into something close to Camelot.

Adventureland is entertainment as a comfy chair, a look at life without the stresses of symbolism and significance. There are no Kevin Smith-inspired trips down memory lane, no pop-culture-laden riffs. Instead, the dialogue digs no deeper than simple human hungers – the feelings of acceptance/ rejection that come with the destruction of dreams and the realignment of individual priorities. Everyone at Adventureland is damaged in some way. By coming together and sharing their situation, they discover that most important of bonding balms: friendship.

Eisenberg steals the show here, underplaying his role to the point of near inertness. But it’s the perfect reactive performance, a chance to let the others bounce off him and still reflect his own inner needs. Stewart is also sensational as the stock pretty girl with a soiled soul. Her final scenes with her uncaring parents are precise in their pain. But the movie’s real MVP is Starr, doling out his desperation in witty, insightful snippets. Without these supports, Adventureland would be an intriguing two-person piece with occasional shout-outs to Lou Reed (a group lynchpin here). With them, it’s a minor masterpiece.

Of course, one can get carried away travelling down a motion-picture memory lane, and some may see Adventureland as nothing more than reminiscence taken to post-millennial ironic extremes. Here’s hoping they look again and see the movie for what it really is: wonderful. Bill Gibron