Movie Adam Reviewed by NYT

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If you haven't heard, a film called "Adam" just opened. It's about an Aspie male whose orderly and already challenging life is altered in a variety of ways when a woman moves into his apartment building.

The New York Times seemed to like it. Review here:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/mo ... am.html?em

A review from USA Today is here:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/rev ... htm?csp=34

Anyone found other reviews? Anyone seen the film? Do tell. I'm hoping that this film will help people understand a bit more about AS.

Hmmm...got 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, not bad considering how hard nosed these critics are towards movies.

Doesn't matter though, it's only playing in 4 or 5 theatres in the US.

Yeah I've heard of this film. Just once I'd like to see the "Aspie stereotype" broken away from. This film stays on that track, the character is academically smart beyond his years, but socially he's not only a total flop but Hugh Dancy doesn't make him sound all that different vocally from Dustin Hoffman's character in "Rain Man". In other words, the title character, IMO, comes off like a dummy who somehow acquired mental superpowers when it came to astronomy.

Personally I think John Lennon is a very good example of someone who (probably) had Asperger's syndrome who doesn't often seem to be suspected of having it. I mean have any of you seen the John Lennon film "Imagine"? It's a documentary on his (adult) life and from what I've seen Lennon was brutally honest, emotionally unstable (drunk or sober), obsessive about many things (particularly his music - and his women, lol ), and he seemed to be the one who caused the most social tension in The Beatles. All Aspie qualities IMO. What's particularly interesting is that my dad, in many ways, reminds me of John Lennon, and it's definitely my dad, and not my mom, that I inherited my Aspie traits from.

You probably thought the last paragraph I wrote was irrelevant (and it kinda was, lol) but the point I was trying to make was that instead of Adam being a character who's basically 7 years old in his personality, he should probably have more aspects to him and come off as a little more...well...human, like John Lennon. I don't think anyone EVER thought that Lennon was like a 7 year old in his personality - maybe a cranky 7 year old, lol But not the sweet, naive side they're portraying in the movie "Adam". Yes, I know, a lot of Aspies are naive (including myself), but I think the people who worked on that movie are exaggerating that. People need to know that Aspies are really no different than other people except they (typically) make more social faux pas.

They aren't playing it where I live so I won't be able to see it until it gets a nationwide release.

I'm so sick of aspie movies that are so bloody sacrine. How about an Asperger's movie that's dark as hell and really gets into how freaking miserable we are all? Show multiple aspies, knowing each other, like here on WP--and all the conflicts between us--and getting very detailed about the trends regarding so-called "nice guys," romantic fixations on various traits, religion/politics, fetishes, etc. etc. etc. There are definite trends established on this forum and a film showing it in all its dark detail would be more interesting to me than something like "Adam." In other words take the best aspects of "Ben X" (the darkness factor--but less emphasis on bullying) and "Mozart and the Whale" (but a MUCH more in depth and complex portrayal of what happens when aspies come together).

It's playing near me, in Miami. I'm going to see it. I'll let you know what I think.

I usually don't think of myself as "dark", but I'm interested in what you mean by it. Do you mean the more depressing/lonely side of us?

Yeah, I essentially want to show how sad an aspie's life can be, when he/she tries to reach out to people, try to socialize, only to fail miserably.

Also, I want to work on some of the mood disorders (extreme sadness / anger) that some of us have suffered and their possible (but not probable) outcome in terms of violence, reclusion, etc.

Again, I don't have nearly close enough knowledge of the "average aspie" to make a short film about asperger's. In fact, I would probably not open refer to the character as one in the film, I think it would be must more interesting to drop references throughout, like having books about AS, etc.

Not trying to hijack the thread here, I might start a new one someday when my ideas are more concrete.

I won't see "Adam" until it comes out on DVD, but would certainly like to see films depicting the entire spectrum of possibilities Aspies experience. I know "Adam" is the usual Hollywood romantic comedy, and therefore will follow the standard formulas found in books like "The Art of Dramatic Writing" (by Lajos Egri), which is apparently something of a Hollywood screenwriter's guidebook. After reading that TV and movies became much more predictable.

The trailer made me sick to my stomach, but I had to watch it (pirated, no money for these scumbags). It's sad people here like this sort of movie. Look it up on YouTube and watch the "favorite scenes". I really hope I'm not alone on this. If the only thing people know about aspergers comes from media, this portrays you. A ret*d sub-human, but you have super logical powers in one area of interest!

Like someone else said, he reminded me of Rainman. The depth of his character is as deep as the aspergers wiki page. There is no human story. Just surface level modern movie trash.