One of the most underrated films of the past decade has got to be "Adventureland," the 2009 coming-of-age comedy by Greg Mottola ("Superbad"). It mined its setting — a rundown 1980s amusement park — for plenty of jokes, but it had a fantastic bittersweet feel to it as well, capturing that moment of drifting aimlessly between college and "real life" well.
Best of all was the chemistry between its two leads, Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, who were both still young at the time, but confidently mixed goofy humor with something more poignant. Unlike so many teen comedy actors, they managed to capture an affection that seemed real.
Thus, I was looking forward to "American Ultra," a new comedy that reunites the pair. Having now seen it, I'd like to take director Nima Nourizadeh and dangle him off a tall building until he squeals for mercy like a stuck pig. How on Earth could you sign these two actors but create a piece of crap as pointless as this? Nourizadeh takes the "my boyfriend/girlfriend is a spy/assassin" action genre and mixes it with a half-baked attempt at stoner comedy. He succeeds at neither. "American Ultra" plays like an episode of "Homeland" for people too stoned to process the plot of a "SpongeBob SquarePants" episode.