ABOUT ADAM
SYNOPSIS
Adam (Stuart Townsend) is a Dublin Romeo who seduces all three
daughters and a son of the same family. Lucy (Kate Hudson) is the
first to fall for Adam's charms. While he is romancing her he
sets his sights on bookish Laura (Frances O'Connor), married
Alice (Charlotte Bradley) and finally David (Alan Maher).
Appearing as the dream lover of each, his story is told in
flashback from all four points of view as events culminate in a
marriage proposal.
A Rashomon-like rom com with more com than rom, About Adam is
engaging and funny, lightweight and entertaining, amusing and
somewhat unpredictable. It’s like a cross between an English
character comedy and an American sit com, elevated by its
performances and by some well judged writing. You could say it’s
a boy meets girl, girl, girl, boy, girl sort of story, but the
important bit is how he does it. It usually is the HOW not the
WHAT, isn’t it? Well, About Adam is far from mainstream, but
if the word gets out, it could get a head of steam. After all, it
tackles sex, gender, gender wars and love. What more can you ask
for on a Saturday night?
Andrew L. Urban
Clever, unpredictable and tinged with a contemporary Irish
flavour, About Adam is a winning romantic comedy with oodles of
charm. Of course it’s about the symbolically named Adam, who
certainly has a way about him. He is the romantic hero and the
charmer, as well as being the cad, the sneak, the flirt and the
compulsive liar. Gerard Stembridge has structured his insightful
screenplay into four parts, each of which offers a compelling and
differing point of view. And in that view, we feel as though we
get to know each member of the Owens family. Adam is the catalyst
that brings each member to the crossroads and changes their lives
forever. Of course, by the time we have come full circle, we have
learned an awful lot about Adam, who reveals a very different
side to everyone. Yes, there are many versions of the truth—there’s
yours, there’s mine and there are the facts. It’s all a
matter of perspective, and this delightful comedy through its
wonderful performances brings us sunshine, rain, tears and
laughter. Stuart Townsend is sensational as Adam. At first glance
there’s nothing so very unusual about him. But as Townsend
slowly builds nuances into the character making him so familiar,
we feel as though we can totally understand him. But all the
performances are strong. Looking more and more like her
irrepressible mum Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson is adorable as Lucy,
we warm to Frances O’Connor as the ‘bookworm’
loner who discovers exhilaration while Charlotte Bradley has
substance as Alice, who is not inexperienced in life’s games.
Witty, warm and wonderful, About Adam is a refreshing interlude
and one every Adam and Eve will enjoy.
Louise Keller
Goodwill toward Irish romantic comedies receives a workout in
this uneven tale of a randy Romeo and his conquests. Adam (Stuart
Townsend) may not be a Valentino reborn but he does possess a
gift of the gab we’re asked to believe makes him the object
of everybody’s desire. I’m not so sure. Thankfully
there’s an attractive cast around him including Kate Hudson
looking angelic, a delightfully awkward Frances O’Connor as
the student writing a thesis on Hysteria and Lust and a sexually
aggressive Charlotte Bradley as the married member of the
sisterly trio. Told in flashbacks from each victim’s point
of view, About Adam offers easy smiles most of the time but not
the outright hilarity it strives for. The problem is the
character of Adam himself, whose smirking grin and fanciful tales
of his tragic family history and the origins of his sexy 60s
Jaguar would surely have made any half-smart girl wary. Not here—the
women are presented as all too ready to fall for this snake whose
transparent charm reminded me of Rik Mayall’s line in an
episode of The Young Ones: Sure I’m a sensitive new age guy,
it’s the best way to pull the birds. This is funny enough on
the surface but there’s something unsatisfactory beneath
Adam and his methods. For much better treatment of the same story
check out Pasolini’s Teorema (1968) or Michael York in
lederhosen running riot with Countess Angela Lansbury’s
family and staff in Something For Everybody (1970).
Richard Kuipers
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CRITICAL COUNT
Favourable: 2
Unfavourable: 0
Mixed: 1
See the TRAILER



ABOUT ADAM (M)
(US)
CAST: Stuart Townsend, Frances O’Connor, Charlotte Bradley,
Kate Hudson
DIRECTOR: Gerard Stembridge
PRODUCER: Anna Devlin, Marina Hughes
SCRIPT: Gerard Stembridge
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Bruno de Keyser
EDITOR: Mary Finlay
MUSIC: Adrian Johnston
RUNNING TIME: 97 minutes
AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR: Buena Vista International
AUSTRALIAN RELEASE: September 20, 2001 (Melbourne only; other
states tba)
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