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Director(s):	Max Mayer
Writer(s):	Max Mayer
Starring:	Amy Irving • Hugh Dancy • Peter Gallagher • Rose Byrne • Frankie Faison
Genre:	Comedy • Drama • Romance
Website:	http://www.foxsearchlight.com/adam/
Release Date:	February 02, 2010
Rated:

List Price:	DVD - $14.99
Amazon:

Adam (Hugh Dancy) is an Asper. No, not a member of an alien species the likes of Kevin Spacey in 2001’s K-Pax but a man struggling with Asperger's Syndrome. Asperger’s is a milder, higher-functioning form of autism that makes it difficult for Adam to read people’s emotions. This often renders him socially stunted and writer/director Max Mayer presents us with the store of Adam’s blossoming in this small personal romantic drama.

A challenge facing a film like this nowadays is the division between films like Forrest Gump and say, 2003’s Radio. It is difficult to avoid telling a story of a physically or mentally disabled individual who shows he/she is not disabled but rather differently-abled without coming off as maudlin or saccharine. To put it bluntly, films like Radio and the long-forgotten Giovanni Ribisi/Juliette Lewis romantic comedy The Other Sister go “full retard.” Adam, and its protagonist, I am happy to report, straddle and overcome this detrimental direction that drags down similar films.

Adam is an extremely intelligent hardware engineer and a budding cosmologist. He is also painfully awkward and, with a recent death in the family, Adam is forced to take on new responsibilities under the watchful eye of family friend Harlan (Frankie Faison, an affectionate character actor finally given a chance to shine in a sizeable supporting role). Beth (the talented and sensitive Rose Byrne, recently the co-star of Glenn Close on Damages) encounters Adam when she moves into his building and soon feels an attraction to a man she considers simply strange. Unaware of his affliction, she is drawn into a world of outer space observation and a variety of Adam’s quirks that thankfully don’t leave an overtly sweet taste in your mouth.

Complications soon arise when Adam loses his job and can no longer afford to pay his mortgage. Meanwhile, Beth is pressured by her smooth-talking father (a relatable but oppressive Peter Gallagher) to meet her new beau. With their relationship fractured by Adam’s ungainly meeting with Beth’s parents, Adam must decide what to do with his life and whether to move on.

Adam succeeds by focusing on the strong performances and avoiding summarizing the main character as a collection of quirks brought on by a disability. Dancy is appropriately conflicted as a man out of his element almost everywhere he goes and Byrne is touching and elegant as a woman faced with the prospect of falling in love with a most unusual man. Peter Gallagher and Amy Irving star as Beth’s parents, and despite only appearing in a few scenes, create realistic portraits of a family that could have given rise to a woman like Beth. Gallagher is especially good as a businessman facing trial for some underhand dealings at his firm. Overall, Adam is a romantic film with dramatic leanings that stands out on the strength of its subject matter and the performances that back it up.

DVD Bonus Features

DVD extras are sizeable but mostly fluff. Included is a commentary by director Max Mayer and producer Leslie Urdan that provides little information and is mostly hushed discussion focusing on character motivations and writing choices. An alternate ending that is as good if not better than the one used is included, as well as approximately eight minutes of deleted scenes that add little to proceedings. Finally, “Creating Adam” and "Fox Movie Channel Presents Life After Film School With Rose Byrne,” clocking in at 16 minutes together, is unfortunate fluff. “Creating Adam” is filled with promotional footage and plays out less like a documentary and more like a promotional piece. The latter feature involves film school students interviewing Rose Byrne – a decent concept hampered by simplistic questions that don’t go beyond the ground the film has already covered in depth.