Adam (Movie Review)

Movie Review
Adam
Starring: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher
Directed by: Max Mayer
Runtime: 1:37

There are times when you watch a trailer for a movie and you expect very good things. Then you get disappointed because the movie doesn’t live up the hype you set up for it. Not only did Max Mayer’s Adam fail to be as good as the trailer made it out to be but was far worse than one could expect. The film would have been better if was called “Facepalm” because that’s what you’ll be doing quite a bit while you watch it.

Adam (Dancy) is a young man with Asperger’s syndrome. His father, whom he lives with, passes away and Adam is trying to adjust living alone. He befriends his neighbour to the building, Beth (Mayer), and their relationship blossoms quickly. At first, Beth tries to hid her relationship with Adam from her parents but then embraces her love for Adam and flaunts her relationship in front of her parents; raising the ire of her father (Gallagher) who is in trouble with the law for fraud.

Let’s get the good parts out of the way. Rose Byrne is a very pretty woman and Peter Gallagher did very well despite his limited acting depth.

That aside, there is not much good to say about the movie. The whole plot seems farfetched only because the story itself seems quickly hashed together. Character development is slaughtered as a result. There should be no reason why Beth would want to consider a relationship with Adam. Each time she sees him at the beginning of the movie, he acts really cold towards her. In fact, she complains on several occasions that she was just in a relationship that was she felt ignored. It’s not like Adam would lavish her with attention due to the solitariness of Aspberger’s. It would have been a reasonable concept if it had been hinted that she keeps falling for the same type of guy but the whole movie has herself distancing herself from that type of person. She even defends Adam’s bizarre behaviour on multiple occasions to an annoying degree which she doesn’t rarely find endearing herself. She likes him on some level as a friend but to develop a romantic relationship seems weird not because of his disorder but because the two seem only like good friends. It just feels like there’s no chemistry between the two.

That’s the problem in a nutshell; nothing makes sense. None of the relationships in the movie feel natural. Nobody is likable either. Adam is unlikeable by design but Beth is annoying and her father is a jerk. The other characters are not on long enough to really matter or influence the film. The lone exception is Adam’s friend, Harlan (Frankie Faison), who seems like a nice guy. His relationship with Adam is the most natural of all in the movie. You could tell that he spends time with Adam more to do with his friendship with Adam’s dad rather than Adam. The dynamic is interesting and the movie would have been better if it was more about Harlan and Adam’s relationship with Beth being a secondary character.

It’s clear that Max Mayer wanted to make a thought provoking movie with Adam. Some would immediately try to connect the film with Forrest Gump but they’re two different films. One was more about a nostalgic trip than the analysis of a person with mental disabilities whereas this film tries to disarm the stigmas concerning Asperger’s syndrome. The attempt may be admirable but with little story, stale acting, and poor character development, this movie is basically a shell with nothing of substance inside.

☆