Adam MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +3 1/2 Content: -1

Main actors and director: Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving. Directed by: Max Mayer.

FILM SYNOPSIS: Billing Adam as a romantic comedy, to this reviewer, is misleading. It is primarily a love story seasoned with comical, light-hearted moments. Adam Raki (Hugh Dancy) suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. This condition affects his social skills and his ability to express his feelings which create awkward situations.

We meet 29-year-old Adam right after his father’s death. He is an electronics engineer in Manhattan and has only one friend, Harlan (Frankie Faison), a middle aged man who apparently has been a lifelong friend. When pretty young school teacher Beth Buchwald (Rose Byrne) becomes Adam’s new neighbor, Adam is ecstatic.

Beth is fascinated by Adam’s intelligence and creativity and amused by his awkwardness. His idea of a romantic date is going to Central Park at midnight to watch raccoons forage for food. With the flip of a switch he can turn his apartment into a virtual mini-planetarium. Her teacher’s instincts take over and she coaches him in social skills as well as job interviewing. Soon they are in love. Meanwhile her wealthy parents (Peter Gallagher and Amy Irving) are facing a crisis which forces Beth to make a difficult choice.

PREVIEW SYNOPSIS:Adam educates as it entertains. While autism has become a fairly familiar term through stories featured on television and in newspapers, Asperger’s Syndrome has not. Adam is a gentle young man eager to please but socially inept with no understanding of other people’s feelings. His father had gone to great lengths to protect him, and now on his own the young man is truly lost. Adam’s conversations are mostly about astronomy and too technical for the average person to follow, frustrating both parties. After he takes Beth to Central Park to watch the raccoons, he asks his dumbfounded date if the experience excited her sexually.

Beth’s genuine interest in her new friend progresses to an intimate relationship. When she learns Adam has lost his job, she spends long hours preparing him for job interviews. Her loyalty splits between her parents and Adam when her father goes on trial for a white collar crime. Is Beth like Adam’s father in his misguided love that refuses to accept that Adam must overcome his disability enough to take control of his own life?

Adam has much more substance than typical summer films with messages about our need for connection to others, acceptance, and compassion versus pity. However, several elements should be pointed out. Some crude terms for body parts, a few profanities and Beth and Adam in bed with sex implied are all gratuitous.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: Fox Searchlight