Adam

Movie: Adam

I saw it on:  August 16, 2009

Cast:  Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Frankie Faison, Mark Linn-Baker

Genres: Drama, Romance

Synopsis: Adam (Hugh Dancy) suffers from Asperger Syndrome.  Although he is a brilliant electrical engineer, he has extraordinary difficulties in dealing with social situations.  He had been living with his father, who just died – leaving Adam alone except for a lifelong friend of his father.  He meets Beth (Rose Byrne) – a teacher who just moved into his building.  Shortly after, Adam is fired from his job.

The movie follows the development of Adam’s relationship with Beth,  his struggle to find a job and his larger struggle with learning how to survive in the world without his father to guide him.

My two cents:  I loved this movie.  It was interesting to see Rose Byrne as other than Ellen on Damages.  A bit part was played by Mark Linn-Baker.  It has been over 16 years since Perfect Strangers – but when I saw Mark Linn-Baker, I immediately thought: “Baliki’s cousin”.

Hugh Dancy definitely dominates this film.  He does an amazing job of portraying someone with Aspergers (although I speak as someone with no first-hand knowledge of this affliction).  He is almost totally unable to read body language or facial expression or voice tone and inflection.  This essentially leaves him not knowing what people are thinking unless they explicitly tell him.  In some ways, he reminded me of Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and his quest to understand human emotion – and to understand humor.

I would love to hear from someone who has actual experience with Aspergers to know if Hugh Dancy’s portrayal was as realistic as it seemed.