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COME AS YOU ARE
Director: Richard Wong Cast: Grant Rosenmeyer, Hayden Szeto, Ravi Patel, Gabourey Sidibe, Janeane Garofalo, C.S. Lee, Jennifer Jelsema, Martha Kuwahara, Daisye Tutor, Delaney Feener MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:46 Release Date: 2/14/20 (limited) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 13, 2020 Come As You Are is a story about three characters with disabilities, but it is not about the fact that they have disabilities. That is an essential part of the characters' experience, but it is not the whole of their existence. Instead, the film (a remake of Hasta la Vista, a 2011 film from Belgium that did not receive a release in the United States) is a raucous comedy, in which three men set out on a road trip to a Montreal brothel, looking to have sex for the first time. It's fascinating how the premise, which has been the stuff of countless comedies, is familiar yet transformed by these characters. In making this tale about sex, the filmmakers here (not to mention the makers of the original, obviously) inherently expand the scope of the lives of these characters, who might otherwise only have been seen by way of their physical limitations. Screenwriter Erik Linthorst and director Richard Wong place these men within a most universal frame—the desire for sex, for love, and for physical and emotional intimacy. On a fundamental level, the premise breaks down assorted stereotypes, assumptions, and prejudices that people might subconsciously possess about people with disabilities. The three men are Scotty (Grant Rosenmeyer), Matt (Hayden Szeto), and Mo (Ravi Patel). The film barely mentions how they became disabled, because that's not the point of their characters. They are, first and foremost, characters. Scotty is a selfish jerk. Matt, kind but sad, is silently dealing with a medical crisis. Mo is empathetic and more than a bit uncomfortable under pressure. They hire Sam (Gabourey Sidibe), a nurse with an accessible van, to drive them to Canada. The jokes aren't at the expense of these characters. The humor instead comes from how their personalities conflict—in addition to how they have to evade being caught by their families, whose worry for them is understandable but borders on belittling. It's a simple but vital distinction, which ensures that we aren't laughing at the characters' limitations but that we laughing at their personalities, as well as how they clash. Come As You Are is funny, too, because the gags are primarily character-based, while the actors create real people and don't simply pantomime disabilities. We actually care about these guys, because they are ordinary guys, looking for a good time and ultimately more, above all else. Copyright © 2020 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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