Review: Adam (2009)

Adam (2009)

3.0

ROMANCE/DRAMA
U.S. Release Date: 07/31/09
Running Length: 99 Minutes
MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Sexual Situations, Profanity)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
Cast: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Frankie Faison
Director: Max Mayer
Screenplay: Max Mayer
Cinematography: Seamus Tierney
Music: Christopher Lennertz
U.S. Distributor: Fox Searchlight

Review by: Carter Moulton

2/7/10

At first, Adam appears to be an attempt at a quirky comedy about a quirky character (of the same name) and his quirky lifestyle. He’s a genius—in general, but specifically in the fields of astronomy and engineering—who’s stuck working on children’s toys; he’s a spiffy dresser with a pristine collared shirt and sweater collection; he’s a socially awkward, sweet-hearted loner in New York City. I wasn’t convinced. But as Adam unwinds, we learn that there’s much more to the film—and the character.

Adam has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. He’s socially awkward for that very reason; this isn’t just some eccentricity. Incapable of linking people’s words with what they really mean, Adam is mostly unable to detect sarcasm, comedy, and, most unfortunately, lies. He’s a loner for that very reason. Adam’s first impression as a clichéd independent film has just been wiped clean.

Hugh Dancy plays Adam, and it’s his performance that carries this introspective—although occasionally melodramatic—movie. The story picks up when Beth Buchwald (played by the likable Rose Bryne) moves next door to Adam. She sees him as interesting, blameless, strange—but not as a nuisance. So much so that after she learns of his disorder, she’s drawn closer to him.

Adam loves the stars, the galaxies. In one of his first interactions with Beth, he shows her his planetarium, a room with projections of the universe on every wall. Director and writer Max Mayer is smart. His decision to have astronomy as Adam’s passion plays into the audience’s (and my) heart—who doesn’t enjoy thinking about the stars? In this way we not only relate to Adam, but we become suspended in the film’s fabric in the process.

The often-smirking Peter Gallagher stars as Beth’s shady father. He’s wrapped up in some legal drama that provides a central conflict for Beth—aside from the conflict of falling in love with someone who might never understand the way she thinks. His character is snide and superfluous, and the film would be better without him.

Mayer’s dialogue isn’t so much predictable as it is straightforward, but it’s given excellent support by its actors. Dancy is wonderful at hiding emotion as Adam, whether it’s attempting to hide a sense of uncomfortableness by nervously ticking or holding in a smile that still manages to glow from within him.

Adam is forgettable, sure, but its well worth a view because it—like it’s subject—is innocent and good-natured. There are some moments, such as when Beth talks to her mother about her father’s blunders and tears saturate the screen, that don’t fit in (both contextually and tonally) and hinder the core story; but others, like Beth and Adam sitting on a bench and talking about raccoons, successfully make up for it. A film reminiscent of The Baxter, although they have opposite outcomes, this is a sweet, light look at love inside of an atypical framework.