Actor Martin Starr does misfits and outcasts well.

"I usually start with posture and a walk, and physicality seems to form from there ... Unfortunately I've played a lot of characters with bad posture. It'd be nice to play one with good posture; it'd be good for my back."

Starr's dry sense of humor is evident, even over the phone. Asked, during a recent interview, if he saw any tourist attractions while filming "Adventureland" in Pittsburgh, he deadpans, "I went to Dave & Buster's."

A pause. "No, I'm just joking."

And then, he mentions seeing installation art at the Mattress Factory and a Steelers game at Heinz Field. Although he follows the Green Bay Packers thanks to his father's Wisconsin roots, he had a great time amid fans who bleed black and gold.

"I love football to begin with, and there's such an amazing feeling to the games at Heinz stadium, just the energy of all the fans out there, I really liked it." He couldn't recall the opponent, but he remembered that the Steelers won.

While shooting "Adventureland" in fall 2007, Starr stayed at the Cork Factory "right by that delicious sandwich place." Primanti's? "Yeah, those sandwiches were incredible, with a little bit of ketchup on the side. ... amazing with the coleslaw and the french fries. Blows your mind."

Some people might remember the 26-year-old Starr as the tall, bespectacled geek Bill on the TV show "Freaks and Geeks." Or as one of the "Knocked Up" roomies lured into a Dirty Man Competition revolving around beard growth. Or more recently as a waiter/aspiring screenwriter on the Starz comedy "Party Down."

In "Adventureland," he's brainy sad sack Joel Schiffman, who indoctrinates newcomer and recent college grad James (Jesse Eisenberg) into the ways of the amusement park, played by Kennywood.

Joel smokes a pipe, loves Russian literature and relates a story about how Herman Melville was identified in The New York Times as Henry Melville in his obituary. True, by the way.

Greg Mottola, a former amusement park worker at Long Island's Adventureland, wrote and directed the comedy.

"He said many times that Joel was based on a lot of people that he had known in his life that he felt were smarter than him but stuck in a place where they couldn't move forward in their lives, and that's kind of how that character was formed," Starr said.

"When I initially read the script, I mean, I loved it so much and felt so attached to that character in particular, I felt so lucky to be able to bring it to life. ... I went in and auditioned and did not think I did a very good job, and I left and I somehow got the part."

Starr, who worked with Mottola on "Superbad" and TV's "Undeclared," is an unabashed fan of the director.

"He's been through so much in his life and is so sensitive to the needs of other people and so compassionate to what you need as an actor. So it's wonderful, it's a joy to work with your friends and on top of that, to work with such an amazing director who's also your friend is incredible."

As it turns out, the California native and son of actress Jean St. James, is an amusement park fan who was thrilled at the chance to climb aboard some of Kennywood's rides.

"There was one day in particular during lunch that they ran them for an hour," he said. "I love amusement parks. It's a different feel to old wooden roller coasters and a different era of theme parks. I'm used to Magic Mountain and crazy upside-down things."

Although the 1980s might have been foreign territory for some of the cast, they were not for Starr, thanks to Judd Apatow's "Freaks and Geeks," the comedy-drama set in a Michigan high school circa 1980. Still, he and other cast members got a "massive book of notes" about historical and cultural events of that time.

In addition to acting with Eisenberg, Starr also shared scenes with Ron Howard's daughter Paige and actress Kristen Stewart, whose fan base later exploded with "Twilight." Paige Howard, who plays another park employee, "is the sweetest person. I would imagine all the stories I've heard about Ron Howard being so nice have to be true."

As for Stewart, who landed "Twilight" during the shooting of "Adventureland," Starr sang her praises and recalled, "There was a little girl who came up to her at Sundance who was so sweet with her. I feel like those kids will try and coerce their parents to letting them come and see this R-rated movie. We'll see if that all works."