Adam Serial Lover

"About Adam" is a cheerful pentangle, helped along by a charming young cast, unpredictable quirkiness and Irish blarney.

Kate Hudson, in what was her first film role, shows off her Mom's smile to good effect.

Frances O'Connor is atypically frenzied. And so on.

All inspired by a lovable, enigmatic rogue whose sensuality turns on at least three sisters and a brother.

The song choices are surprisingly conservative traditional pop, culminating effectively in Peggy Lee.

(originally written 6/15/2001)

I guess from my reaction to many a romantic comedy, some may think I'm male. Actually I'm a heterosexual female who enjoys ORIGINAL romantic comedy, but I also have half a brain and expect some degree of intelligence from films.

The Laura character summed this film up pretty thoroughly for me. She is an English actor, meaning that two of the main characters, including of course THE main female lead, were not Irish. I can't be bothered repeating why this is extremely sad - it's been said so many times - but the marketing machine behind most movies will not change it's mind about shoving Americans (or Brits) into the leads in "foreign" films, no matter how much people complain. They want the bucks, you know, and a famous names DOES mean more bums on seats. Sad but true.

I found this film uninspired. There were perhaps 2 or 3 genuinely amusing and surprising lines. The characters were pretty much laughable, in a bad way. Adam's justification for his machiavellian behaviour I found ridiculous and unconvincing. This guy is not altruistic - that much should have been patently obvious to anyone with a brain half the size of an ant's b**ls.

I hung on to the end. Lord knows why as I tend to advise: if you don't like a movie, turn it off. Maybe I'm feeling rather masochistic today or maybe I kept hoping something was going to happen to make it worth my while. It didn't.

That said, if you don't care about intelligent scripts or whether a movie rehashes themes/styles/plots that have been done better elsewhere many a time and if you like fluffy, pointless romantic comedy no matter what, then watch and enjoy! 4/10

I did not even know the tag-line to the film About Adam (or All About Adam) but my first thought after I saw it was "He came, He saw, He conquered...them all." And it is almost identical with the film tag-line "He came. He saw. He conquered. One sister at a time." Gerard Stembridge's film belongs to the long suffered and rarely done well genre of romantic comedy or so called chick flick but this movie was a nice surprise. It has a twist to it, is amusing, enjoyable and funny, at least up until the very final. In the end, the writer/director seemed to have lost an interest of simply did not know what to do with his main character who could've been a lighter version or a younger brother to Pasolini's mysterious visitor in Theorem or, if asked Who are you, he could've answered, Just your average, horny little devil, not unlike Mr. Darryl van Horn. Yes, About Adam may not use any original ideas and it brings to mind immediately the movies as different as Theorem; Sliding Doors; He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not; the Spanish Oscar winner for the Best Foreign movie, Bell Époque, The Witches of Eastwick, and more than one Woody Allen's dramedies, Hannah and Her Sisters, particularly. The story of a charming mysterious man who makes every member of one family fall hard for him simply by being there and expressing the interest to each person's problems, troubles, and needs has been told many times but I personally was amused and smiled more than once while watching this little comedy and I found it if not a bright lost gem but a nice way to spend an hour and half following the adventures of a nice guy , every girl's dream come true who could make women happy because he knew exactly what each of them wanted, needed, longed for, lacked in her life, and dreamed about. I found especially funny always changing and adjusted for a particular listener the story of the powerful sexy mysterious collectible Jaguar, the perfect car for a sexy, mysterious, perfect man. Cinematically, the movie that takes place in Dublin is very pleasant, and I did not mind the repeating narrative that helped to look at the same scenes from very different perspectives and unexpected points of view. The young and talented actors and actresses including pre-Almost Famous very cute and singing Kate Hudson, Frances O'Connor and Charlotte Bradley as her older sisters, and Stuart Townsend as irresistible Adam all made their characters likable which is important for this type of film.

The reason I say that is because I like the way they give different perspectives of several different scenes as seen by the different characters in the movie. I really like Stewart Townsend (he's one of those adorable people that are charismatic not to mention easy on the eyes). This is definitely NOT a cinematic masterpiece but I don't think it was meant to be either. It was entertaining and THAT's what I liked about it. Well, that and Stewart Townsend but I think I already mentioned that. Didn't sound like many people liked this one but I have to disagree. It's fun, sexy, flirtatious,and comedic all in one movie. Give it a chance and watch it again or for the first time, whichever the case may be.

About Adam received new life after Kate Hudson became almost famous. But while Hudson plays a key role this film is, quite literally, about Adam, as played wonderfully by Stuart Townsend. The film begins with young Irish singing waitress Lucy, as played by Hudson with an Irish accent that comes and goes, meeting the mysterious Adam. She immediately falls for him and their new romance proceeds happily along. Lucy brings Adam home to meet the family and here things get turned on their head. After seeing the story play out from Lucy's perspective we go back and revisit the same time period from different points of view, those of Lucy's two sisters and brother. It soon becomes apparent that Adam is not quite what he seems and that he has become much closer to Lucy's family than she would ever believe.

Frances O'Connor as the quiet, bookish Laura and Charlotte Bradley as the unhappily married Alice will each strike up their own serious relationship with Adam. As we see each of the sisters' stories unfold it puts a new spin on all that we have seen before. Even Lucy's brother finds himself oddly attracted to Adam while Lucy floats along completely oblivious to all that is swirling around her. Each of the key roles is performed well and enough time is given to allow us to explore the motivations of each of these characters. If we didn't really get to know these people and what drives them, everyone involved could come off rather badly, especially Townsend's Adam. But the director makes each character sympathetic enough and it all ties together very well.

A clever script, mostly terrific acting, intriguing characters, wonderful Irish scenery and a very smart plot device that adds a unique twist to everything...About Adam has a lot going for it. It's a smart, funny, enjoyable ride.