Adam

Directed by Max Mayer

(PG-13)

**

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A man with Asperger’s syndrome learns about love

Adam wants audiences to know that people with Asperger’s syndrome deserve love too, said Alonso Duralde in MSNBC.com. An “after-school special for adults,” the film stars Hugh Dancy as Adam, a brilliant Asperger’s sufferer who becomes chummy with his new neighbor, a sweetheart of a schoolteacher played by Rose Byrne. Asperger’s syndrome is a high-functioning form of autism, and those who suffer from it often lack empathy and an understanding of subtle cues such as sarcasm or innuendo. While a “thorny, intriguing” subject lies at the core of Adam, the film never reaches its full potential, said Nathan Rabin in The Onion. Director Max Mayer “romanticizes” Asperger’s syndrome instead of delving into what love might mean to someone “whose capacity to express and reciprocate affection is inherently limited by the way his mind works.” Even so, Adam is “no weepy, disease-of-the-week movie,” said Claudia Puig in USA Today. Mayer handles the difficulties of Asperger’s with “sensitivity and intelligence.” When the director focuses on the everyday realities of the relationship, his film is a “cut above most romances.”