Asperger’s syndrome—a mild form of autism that leaves linguistic functions unimpaired—didn’t make it into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders until 1994, 50 years after it was first described. (Perhaps the most important secular document in American life after the Constitution, the DSM monetizes and thus legitimizes our ever-shifting categories of mental illness: if your problem isn’t in the big book, it doesn’t exist and your insurance company won’t pay for treatment.) In the intervening 15 years, however, Asperger’s has taken off like a rocket. The diagnosis has become ubiquitous, and the diagnosed have formed their own identity movement. Pointing to the example of homosexuality, which was stricken from the DSM in 1973, “aspie pride” activists argue that they are in no way inferior to “neurotypicals,” just different.
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It will be interesting to see how advocates of “neurodiversity” respond to Hollywood’s groundbreaking representation of their condition in the new romantic comedy Adam, which depicts a love affair between a handsome young aspie (Hugh Dancy) and the neurotypical girl next door (Rose Byrne). My guess—unsupported by any particular insight into Aspergerian psychology—is that opinion will split between those who embrace it as a sympathetic portrayal that might even help them get laid and those who reject it as a distorting and condescending Hollywood fairy tale that will encourage more “fake aspies” to self-diagnose. (Not unlike tribal Native Americans, aspies devote considerable energy to guarding the boundaries of their community against wannabes.)
Plotwise, Adam is as prosaic and sentimental as romantic comedies come. Recently orphaned by the death of his father, Adam wouldn’t have a friend in the world if not for Harlan (The Wire‘s Frankie Faison), his dad’s folksy African-American army buddy. After Adam and Beth “meet cute” on the stoop of their shared building and again in the laundry room, Harlan goads Adam into courting her. Struggling to overcome his social phobias, Adam shows Beth his planetarium and introduces her to a family of raccoons living in nearby Central Park. Beth is dubious, but she’s eventually won over by his unvarying honesty and respectful willingness to wait for sex until she’s ready. (Neither of these traits popped up in my survey of the clinical literature on Asperger’s.) The course of their love is not always smooth, but her maternal patience and his oddball charm see them through the rough patches. Then potential disaster rears in the form of her overbearing parents. Her socialite mom (Amy Irving) harbors reservations about Adam, while dad (Peter Gallagher), a well-paid corporate suit, is dead certain he’s the wrong guy for his little girl. But dad’s moral authority is fast being undermined: he’s facing trial for shady accounting practices.
Written and directed by Max Mayer
