''Adam'' is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed by Rhys Ernst, from a screenplay by

Ariel Schrag Ariel Schrag (born December 29, 1979) is an American cartoonist and television writer who achieved critical recognition at an early age for her autobiographical comics. Her novel ''Adam'' provoked controversy with its theme of a heterosexual tee ...

, based upon the novel of the same name by Schrag. It stars Nicholas Alexander, Bobbi Menuez, Leo Sheng,

Chloe Levine Chloe (; ), also spelled Chloë, Chlöe, or Chloé, is a feminine name meaning "blooming" or "fertility" in Greek. The name ultimately derives, through Greek, from the Proto-Indo-European root ', which relates to the colors yellow and green. T ...

, and

Margaret Qualley Sarah Margaret Qualley (born October 23, 1994) is an American actress and model. A daughter of actress Andie MacDowell, she trained as a ballerina in her youth. She made her acting debut with a minor role in the 2013 drama film ''Palo Alto'', a ...

. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019. It was released on August 14, 2019, by

Wolfe Releasing Wolfe Video is the oldest and largest exclusive producer and distributor of LGBT films in North America. Founded in 1985 in New Almaden by Kathy Wolfe, the company began as a consumer mail order distribution company for lesbian VHS videos but ha ...

Plot

Shy and nerdy teenager Adam (Nicholas Alexander) spends his last high school summer in NYC with his older sister, who is part of the local lesbian and trans activist scene. Adam meets and develops a crush on a lesbian girl, Gillian ( Bobbi Menuez), at an LGBTQ+ party. Gillian assumes that he is a trans man, and Adam confirms the lie, running with the deception in order to win her affection. Adam's struggle and guilt over his deceit increases as the relationship between him and Gillian deepens, eventually leading him to admit that he is not trans. Gillian accepts both this and him, having realized that she is bisexual rather than lesbian. They break up however as the relationship was based on lies, though Adam gains a deep regard toward trans people.

Cast

* Nicholas Alexander as Adam Freeman * Bobbi Menuez as Gillian * Leo Sheng as Ethan *

as June *

as Casey Freeman * Jari Jones as Schuyler *

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez Michaela Antonia Jaé Rodriguez (born January 7, 1991), formerly known as MJ Rodriguez, is an American actress and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Rodriguez attended several performing arts schools in her youth before being cast in a theater ...

as Emma *

Colton Ryan Colton Ryan (born June 10, 1995) is an American actor and singer. He is known for his performance as Conrad "Coco" Roy in the Hulu miniseries ''The Girl from Plainville'' (2022), for which he garnered critical acclaim, and for playing Connor Mur ...

as Brad * Dana Aliya Levinson as Hazel * Alisha B. Woods as Jackie * Rachel Burkhardt as Nadia * Melanie Hinkle as Kate *

Ashlie Atkinson Ashley Elizabeth Atkinson (born August 6, 1977), known professionally as Ashlie Atkinson, is an American character actress who works in movies and television (with over 90 credits) – as well as in theater. Atkinson is known for her work as Ace o ...

as Bound Emcee *

Ana Gasteyer Ana Kristina Gasteyer (born May 4, 1967) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1996 to 2002. She has since starred in such sitcoms as ABC's '' Suburgatory,'' TBS's ''People of Earth'', NBC's ...

as Mom * Yva Las Vegass as club bouncer

Production

In November 2016, it was announced

Desiree Akhavan Desiree Akhavan (born December 27, 1984) is an American filmmaker, writer and actress. She is best known for her 2014 feature film debut '' Appropriate Behavior'',Ariel Schrag Ariel Schrag (born December 29, 1979) is an American cartoonist and television writer who achieved critical recognition at an early age for her autobiographical comics. Her novel ''Adam'' provoked controversy with its theme of a heterosexual tee ...

, based upon her novel of the same name.

James Schamus James Allan Schamus (born September 7, 1959) is an American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director. He is a frequent collaborator of Ang Lee, the co-founder of the production company Good Machine, a ...

and Howard Gertler would produce the film, while Joe Pirro would serve as an executive producer under their Symbolic Exchange banner. However, Akhavan had to drop out of the film due to scheduling conflicts, and Rhys Ernst ended up directing the film.

Release

It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019. Shortly after,

acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on August 14, 2019.

Critical reception

''Adam'' holds approval rating on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on reviews, with an average of . The site's critical consensus reads, "Much like its well-meaning but clueless protagonist, ''Adam'' occasionally seems to be in over its head -- but its good intentions make those fumbles easier to forgive." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film holds a rating of 64 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Controversy

Because gender deception is a major plot element of the film (and the novel upon which it is based), it has been the subject of controversy. Director Rhys Ernst, a trans person himself, has acknowledged the criticism of the source material, but says "a primary condition to my working on the project was that I would tell it from a trans perspective" and that "the changes address many of the concerns that have been raised about the novel", as well as stating "the things that people are afraid of, who haven't seen the movie, none of those things are in the movie." He also stated, "There were a lot of changes between the book and the script, so I didn't really dwell on the book that much. I'm seeing my role and vision in this to create a whole new work that's jumping off from the script but not the book so much." Ernst also responded to online calls to boycott the film, saying, "the idea of boycotting or condemning projects before they're released is not progressive or beneficial. It reminds me of

Gamergate Gamergate may refer to: * Gamergate (ant), a worker ant that can store sperm and reproduce sexually * Gamergate (harassment campaign), targeting women in the video game industry * Lt. Gamergate, a character in the ''Adventure Time'' episode " Den ...

, of attempts to shut down a female ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, thr ...

'' movie ..I don't think I believe in boycotts of cultural products, of art. There are other ways of engaging. I think, you know, burning a book, even the most vile book I can think of — I find that too close to

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

. I'm sorry. I don't believe in that."

References

External links

* * * {{Metacritic film 2010s American films 2010s English-language films 2010s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 2010s independent films 2010s teen comedy-drama films 2019 films 2019 comedy-drama films 2019 controversies in the United States 2019 LGBT-related films American coming-of-age comedy-drama films American independent films American teen comedy-drama films American teen LGBT-related films Films based on American novels Films produced by James Schamus Films set in 2006 Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City LGBT-related comedy-drama films LGBT-related coming-of-age films LGBT-related controversies in film Transgender-related films