‘About Adam’: What Do You Do When Mr. Right Is Too Right?

“About Adam” is a sly romantic comedy made with wit and style by Irish writer-director Gerard Stembridge, who proves refreshingly unpredictable and unafraid to stand conventional wisdom about human emotions on its head. In doing so Stembridge achieves a successful blend of sophistication with potentially broad appeal. This deft Miramax presentation suggests that the cycle of smart, amusing love stories from the U.K. that began with “Four Weddings and a Funeral” is showing no signs of flagging.

Kate Hudson’s Lucy is an adorable, bubbly waitress-torch singer at a Dublin restaurant who’s just broken up with her latest in a string of boyfriends and is yearning for the perfect man when he walks in and sweeps her off her feet. He’s Adam (Stuart Townsend), who is handsome, sensitive and well-off. Adam is the kind of guy who seems to know intuitively and infallibly what to say and what to do that thrills a woman and keeps her satisfied. He’s unfailingly kind and considerate--so much so that when he tells Lucy he wants her to call all the shots in their relationship as to how far and at what pace it is to proceed she of course is instantly consumed with lust.

What’s more, Adam doesn’t disappoint at the moment of truth; far from it: Lucy is transported to new heights of ecstasy. Their romance progresses with such smoothness and speed that Lucy is soon inspired to propose to Adam during a performance at the restaurant, where her family has gathered to celebrate the birthday of her gregarious mother, Peggy (Rosaleen Linehan). Adam readily accepts.

This is about 20 minutes into the movie, which means that enough time has passed that the big question becomes: When will Adam’s Mr. Perfect be revealed as something else? But just as this guessing game becomes intense Stembridge abruptly commences a pattern of taking us back to a particular point in his narrative to continue telling the story--from the point of view of each of Lucy’s three siblings.

First, there’s Laura (Frances O’Connor), an English lit grad student who hides her loveliness behind a mousy look and who identifies with the repressed women poets of the Victorian era who are the subject of her thesis. Then, there’s Alice (Charlotte Bradley, a Geena Davis look-alike), whose marriage has lost its bloom. And finally, there’s David (Alan Maher), sweet-natured but frustrated by his girlfriend, Karen (Cathleen Bradly), who insists on saving herself for marriage.

Laura suspects that Adam “has some deep tragedy that’s lurking underneath the surface.” As it happens, she’s right, but what counts is how it has affected, or rather how Adam has allowed it to affect him. Can it be that Adam takes genuine, uncalculated pleasure in making others happy? The way this diverting film plays out suggests that when it comes to preserving happiness there’s wisdom in keeping secrets and that this does not contradict honest emotion. Hudson blends into a fine ensemble cast as deftly as Gwyneth Paltrow and Renee Zellweger have before her in similar circumstances. And when it comes to what lies beneath, “About Adam” mischievously suggests the Irish may be closer to their pagan roots than they realize.

* MPAA-rated: R, for language and sexuality. Times guidelines: Language, exceedingly adult themes and situations.

‘About Adam’

Stuart Townsend: Adam

Kate Hudson: Lucy

Frances O’Connor: Laura

Charlotte Bradley: Alice

A Miramax HAL Films and BBC Films present in association with Bord Scannian na Herireann/the Irish Film Board, a Venus production. Writer-director Gerard Stembridge. Producers Anna Devlin, Marina Hughes. Executive producers Harvey Weinstein, David M. Thompson, David Aukin Trea Leventhal, Rod Stoneman. Cinematographer Bruno de Keyser. Editor Mary Finlay. Music Adrian Johnston. Costumes Eimear Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh. Production designer Fiona Daly. Art director Susan Cullen. Running time: 1 hour, 38.

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