Review of “Adam”
Charm is not quite enough to get this implausible film to fly. It’s gentle and sensitive about the fact that its central character has Asperger’s Syndrome, but hamstrung by that same force. The level of care is so high that there’s little or no comedy, and let’s face it, a romance with one character lacking in empathy really has nowhere to go. Adam (Hugh Dancy) is a highly intelligent electronics engineer with an obsession about the stars. But Adam clearly has issues dealing with other people.
He likes to watch them – which gets him into trouble – but he can’t relate to anyone. After his father dies, he is left alone in a large apartment and barely speaks until he bumps into beautiful new resident Beth (Rose Byrne) in the communal laundry. She’s fresh from a relationship gone wrong and is clearly attracted to the genuine honesty that comes with Adam. After an awkward couple of interchanges, he tells her he suffers from Aspergers. That’s enough to get Beth looking for information and, after finding out more about the condition, a tentative relationship kicks off.
It is, however, very slow going, and the narrative increasingly relies upon a secondary story involving Beth’s father Marty (Peter Gallagher), an accountant accused of fraud. With nowhere much for Adam and Beth’s relationship to go, we welcome being drawn in on the drama of Marty’s trial and the effect this has on the close bond with his daughter. As you’d expect, Marty also has strong views on Beth’s choice of boyfriend. Beth has some tough decision’s to make, with Mum (Amy Irving) chipping in with some stand-by-your-man advice.
Written and directed by first time feature director Max Mayer – a well-known theatre director – the performances are all sound, but there’s little of visual interest. Mayer also plays down far too much the central drama of this story – Beth’s feelings towards Adam, and washes out the emotional content with a soppy soundtrack. In an interview, Mayer revealed that his starting point for the film was his own emotional response to a man he heard on the radio talking about the difficulties of living with Aspergers, and you can’t help feeling that Mayer’s project with the film is less about delivering a dramatic or emotional story and more about giving us a warm and caring insight into the condition.
SW
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