½
Adam (PG-13)
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Caution: potential spoilers.
I originally put this review under "romantic," but I'm not sure I was ever entirely comfortable with that. So when I later created a "mental health" category, I was happy to move the review there.
I feel I should mention that in 1997 or 98, I saw a psychiatrist (or psychologist?) one time, who suggested I might have Asperger's Syndrome. I believe that was the first time I'd heard of it (I'd seen someone else a number of times who'd suggested something else). In the years since then, I've heard of the condition many times... I feel like it's become sort of trendy. So I always take an interest when I see characters in TV or movies who have this condition, though they always seem to be... more "different" than I am, which makes me wonder whether I truly have this condition or not. Sometimes I feel guilty for even thinking I might, when others are clearly worse off than I am. And yet... when I look at people in the real world, I see myself as being clearly rather different than they are. (Regardless of... my own status... I do feel it's important for movies like this to be made, and seen.)
Anyway. The title character of this movie, Adam Raki, clearly has Asperger's. And he's clearly more different than I am (though I certainly understand and identify with him in a lot of ways). But I daresay he does some things that I couldn't, so... it's complicated, but as I always say, everyone is an individual... In any event, the movie starts with a brief narration by the other main character, Beth Buchwald. I liked what she said in her introductory narration more than I generally do in such things. And then... we see Adam at his father's funeral (his mother had died when he was 8). Adam and his father had shared an apartment in Manhattan. Now he's all alone. Then, Adam meets a woman (Beth), who just moved into his building. He's an electronic engineer at a toy company, and she's a teacher, but also a writer of children's books. And they share an interest in outer space (though he knows a great deal more about it than she does.) Anyway, they soon strike up a friendship, which is almost certainly more than I'd manage.
Meanwhile, her father, as it turns out, is under indictment for... helping the daughter of a friend. It's this whole subplot that I guess sort of parallels Adam's situation, in a way. At least the film tries to make it seem that way. I mean... Adam loses his job, and his attempts to find a new one parallels Beth's father's trial. Sort of. (I can definitely say I understand sucking at job interviews.) Oh, and I should also mention that Adam has a friend named Harlan, who was actually a friend of his father's (they'd been in the military together, in some war). Harlan is the one who actually encourages Adam to pursue Beth, romantically (and eventually Adam provides some reciprocal encouragement for Harlan). Anyway, Beth is a bit hesitant about getting involved with someone with Asperger's, though she does like him. (And this... I dunno, I'm kind of... I feel like no one should have to put up with all my... issues... so for someone even worse off than me, I dunno. I sort of feel like she should be even more hesitant than she is. The fact that she does get involved with him gives me a kind of hope, but also... meh. It's so complicated, I feel like she was wrong, and I feel like Adam's idea of love is not at all what love is. If I'm closer to normal than he is and I think I don't deserve to be loved... eh. But it's just a story.) Actually, I think she's far too open-minded for her own good, and if I ever found a woman like her... I expect I'd push her away.
Anyway, Beth learns things about her father which disillusion her. And at the same time, Adam gets a job in California, and wants Beth to go with him. She's clearly confused by her feelings of resentment toward her father (and his disapproval of Adam) and her own conflicted feelings about Adam. And I'm not even sure how I want it all to work out for them. (The end of the movie is... inconclusive.) But whatever happens, at the very least I think it's safe to say Adam has learned a little bit about social interaction from his time with Beth.... *shrug* I still feel... eh. I just don't know. I don't know about these fictional people, and I don't know about myself. So, whatever, it wasn't a bad movie, I guess. But it doesn't really... do that much for me. All I can really hope for is that it, in some small way, helps neurotypical people understand, even just a little bit, what it's like to be different. Even more different than I am.... Which is... whatever. Gah, I dunno, okay?!?