If you've seen Gigantic, and whatever you do, don't see Gigantic, you know what sinking into an opressively sweet and colorful ocean of cotton candy quirk feels like: fluffy, wrong, and above all frustrating. Why is Paul Dano so mumbly and awkward? Because he's a mattress salesman? Why does he want to adopt a Chinese baby (besides the quirk factor)? Why does he have trouble making eye contact? What is wrong with him?
Well, the protagonist of Adam has a lot of things in common with Paul Dano of Gigantic: They both engage in painfully quirky indie-rom-com activities; they're both incredibly awkward; and they're both in love with dark-haired, big-eyed MPDGs. But the difference is that Adam at least has an excuse for his quirks: a mild form of autism:
For the indie romantic comedy record, which is constantly being scribbled down with a Hello Kitty fountain pen in invisible ink somehwere: No one—not just people with Asperger's—wants to watch birth videos.
Still, how relieved were you when Adam revealed that he wasn't just suffering from yet another case of quirky indie manchild protagonism and said, "I have Asperger's"? It was just like the two-part episode of The Golden Girls when Dorothy found out she wasn't just tired, she had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: "It has a name!" And so does indie rom-com male awkwardness—at least in this one movie.