Adam

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Sep 122009

adamreview Usually movies that feature a character that has any sort of of mental condition will have me screaming “OSCAR BAIT!!” and turn me almost completely off.¬† I don’t think any of us needs to see another ‘I Am Sam’ any time soon now do we?¬† I’m happy to report that ‘Adam’ doesn’t have any ridiculous moments of a desperate actor looking for a statue and despite a few flaws it ends up being one of the sweetest movies I’ve seen all year.

Hugh Dancy plays Adam, a pretty handsome and extremely bright young man who has Asperger’s syndrome.¬† You can clearly see that he’s led a sheltered life.¬† His father has just passed away and Adam is now on his own for the first time.¬† He spends his days working as an electronic engineer for a toy doll company, and his nights studying the stars and eating macaroni and cheese.¬† This is all until Beth, played by Rose Byrne, moves into his building.

So just what is it about ‘Adam’ that separates itself from other movies of the same ilk?¬† It’s freaking Hugh Dancy, that’s what it is.¬† It certainly helps that I’m not terribly familiar with the guy.¬† He’s not overexposed in any way, and he’s got a fresh face.¬† There is none of that ‘actor begging’ that I mentioned previously.¬† There is enough subtlety offset by a few scarier outbursts that make Hugh Dancy just plain kick ass, ok?¬† I have to be careful or I’ll just gush about this guy for the next couple paragraphs.

The movie does a pretty good job at handling the relationship of Adam and Beth.¬† The complexity and the dynamic of it is something that is not normal for most of us, making an audience feel comfortable without sacrifice is no small feat.¬† Writer and Director Max Mayer pulls this part of the film off, but falters a bit with the secondary plot he’s running simultaneously which involves Beth’s father (Peter “Eyebrows” Gallagher) and some serious legal trouble he is in.¬† I get what Mayer was trying to do and to explain further would be to delve into spoilerish territory, so I’ll just leave it at this: It didn’t need to be there, but I’d wager that it won’t bother most of you.¬† It’s a minor nitpick from me, that’s all.

To put it simply, ‘Adam’ charmed the hell out of me.¬† I walked in expecting to maybe mildly enjoy it at best, and walked out with a smile on my face and very glad that I now know who this Hugh Dancy fellow is.

Oh, and by the way?¬† My name is Adam.¬† No, seriously.