CineVegas Review: ‘Adam’

It’s sort of become an unofficial unstated tradition that most movies featuring a character with some form of neurological disorder or handicap usually miss their mark, or in many cases simply fall flat on their faces. More often than not, the majority of movies that shed light on the topic of people living such lives shed the kind of light that mock or disrespect those afflicted with these conditions. ‘Deuce Bigalow’ makes fun of several including narcolepsy and Tourette Syndrome (a popular comical target) for example, but the list goes on. And for what, to make us laugh?

I prefer the rare film that takes subject matters such as these and constructs a smart and meaningful story depicting these lives and opening the viewer’s eyes to circumstances they themselves have not been privileged to endure and overcome. ‘Adam’ joins the select list of quality films that tell respectful and worthwhile stories of people with neurological conditions such as Rain Man, I Am Sam, Tic Code and House of Cards, to name a few.

Writer and director Max Mayer (Better Living) manages to capture this essence of daily life for an adult with Asperger’s Syndrome, taking us on a journey one day at a time through Adam’s struggle to adapt to his community of neuro-typicals and introduces us to the process by which he interacts and understands the world around him. Hugh Dancy (Confessions of a Shopaholic) delivers a commendable performance as Adam, pulling us into his mind and allowing us a glimpse of how alien the emotions and communication of others around him must feel at times. Interactions that the rest of us take for granted are difficult for Adam to grasp and at times the jokes and sarcasm of our conversations are misunderstood.

What I found particularly enjoyable about ‘Adam’ was that his life isn’t perfect, but he manages to adapt. The story is realistic and filled with the ups and downs that come with real life, but still manages to incorporate an an almost fairy tale like quality that mimics real life, that feeling of when things seem just right but then fall apart without any notice. That’s what life is actually like. Things don’t always, perhaps rarely work out as planned and this fact of life is no different for people that society sees as being “different.” If anything, these moments are more abundant.

‘Adam’ tells the story of a 29-year old man with Asperger’s Syndrome whose father has just passed away and must now learn to live on his own in New York. Adam has never lived alone, never traveled outside of his neighborhood alone and soon finds himself without a job to pay for the mortgage on his father’s house. Adam has one true friend in his life, a friend of his late father’s named Harlan who works as a locksmith and does his best to keep an eye on Adam and be there for him when needed. This is a two-way street however, as Harlan finds great wisdom pass through Adam’s lips to him as well.

The heart of the story develops as Adam meets his new neighbor, a single teacher named Beth played by Rose Byrne (Knowing). She is a kind, open-minded woman who quickly develops an interest in getting to know Adam, but one that slowly grows into something more as she realizes Adam holds qualities she admires despite his differences. The struggle for them both as they pursue a relationship neither knows what to expect of, is that they both have a lot to learn from each other and must work together to communicate their feelings.

This is not a sappy, story book kind of romance that’s filled with your typical rom-com tendencies. ‘Adam’ has more than the average amount of hardship that occurs in the lives of Adam and Beth. The struggle isn’t focused entirely on Beth trying to understand Adam, but branches out to find Adam struggling to understand Beth and her family, and Beth’s family struggling to understand Adam. In the end, Adam and Beth must both make important decisions about their relationship and their lives and the ending is satisfies on both ends of the emotional scale.

Additional quality performances are delivered by Peter Gallagher as Beth’s father, Amy Irving as her mother, Frankie Faison as Harlan and a welcome face from the past with Mark Linn-Baker (Perfect Strangers) as Adam’s boss. What ‘Adam’ delivers is more than just an intelligent story of boy meets girl, offering a story about Adam’s revelation that he does have the ability to live a “normal” life on his own. Whereas the customary assumption is to assume this is a love story, the truth is that neither Adam nor Beth truly even know what love is as they go through the motions of what a typical relationship entails before learning that love cannot be forced or manufactured and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

I’ve spoken a lot about why I feel this is a significant film, but when all this is put aside, the bottom line is that ‘Adam’ tells a heart-warming and honest story that provides the full spectrum of emotional satisfaction. ‘Adam’ is entertaining and inspirational. Much of the humor is rooted in Adam’s incredible amount of knowledge and his uncanny understanding of the physical world and outer space. Talking in great detail for hours about the intricacies of astrological physics and electronics comes as second nature to Adam, but the ability and understanding of how to carry out a simple and playful 60 seconds of small talk is beyond his ability. Adam begins to grasp this understanding thanks to Beth, while Beth begins to understand what’s really important in her life as a result of her time with Adam.