{"id":8252,"date":"2020-05-18T20:49:14","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T20:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/?p=8252"},"modified":"2020-05-18T20:49:14","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T20:49:14","slug":"come-as-you-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/come-as-you-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Come As You Are"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]What a sweet, surprisingly funny buddy road trip of three men with disabilities hell bent on losing their virginity. This film is enlightening, respectful and smart. The story is set in motion when the three men discover there\u2019s a brothel in Montreal, Le Chateau Paradis, that caters to men with special needs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Director Richard Wong and writer Erik Linthorst handle well the issue of living as a complete person with frankness without over-sentimentalizing. It is based on a true story that became the 2011 Belgian film Hasta la Vista<\/i>. That feature and an earlier documentary were inspired by the exploits of Asta Philpot who makes a cameo appearance in this film and during the credits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that none of the three lead actors are actually disabled. They\u2019re helped by Linthorst\u2019s script which doesn\u2019t devolve into shallow grabs for heart-tugs. They act naturally and are believable as they struggle with every day obstacles.<\/p>\n

The organizer of the trip is Scotty (Grant Rosenmeyer), a 24 year old quadriplegic with one thing on his mind. That\u2019s made crystal clear when he\u2019s lifted into a bath with an\u00a0 <\/span>erection still in full evidence. Scotty rankles at his ever-present, over-protective mom (Janeane Garofolo) who has to ignore his arousal and constant wise cracks.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8257″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8256″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8262″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Rosenmeyer plays Scotty as bitter but with a wicked sense of humor.\u00a0<\/span>He has a foul mouth and temper which helps feed his desire to become a rapper. He\u2019s fairly good and creative at it. Scotty\u2019s anger increases when a new hunk of a handsome paraplegic patient shows and grabs the attention of his secret desire, the attractive physical therapist, Becky (Daisy Tutor). Matt (Hayden Szeto) is a former jock now suffering from a degenerative disease. He also has smothering parents. Scotty and Matt are joined on the journey by legally blind Mo (Ravi Patel) who exudes a good heart and quick wit. He and Scotty spar constantly, but are really good buddies who like to pull each others chain. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not new territory for a film to explore. In Ben Lewin\u2019s The Sessions<\/i>, Helen Hunt played a sex therapist hired to eventually sexually service the iron-lung patient played by John Hawkes. That turned into a love story. Come as You Are<\/i> takes the sex angle on\u00a0 <\/span>a different trajectory, using it as a comedy tool to reach their primary goal at the end of an implausible trip.<\/p>\n

The trio needs transportation to get from Colorado to Montreal. Enter van driver Sam (Gabourey Sidibe) who isn\u2019t clued into the real reason for the trip. Her backstory as a nurse gives her license to exhibit wry humor and candid, frank discussions with the young men about their situations. Sam even gets the opportunity to show her feelings as well. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Scotty and Matt\u2019s disappearance ignites Scotty\u2019s Mom and Matt\u2019s over worried parents (Jennifer Jelsema and C.S. Leeto) to mount a manhunt that will lead to the predictable confrontation in the second act. But the best comedic moments involve Scotty, Matt and Mo teaming up to drive the van. When the only driver able to use his arms and legs is blind, it\u2019s no surprise when the getaway gets away from them. Their ensuing encounter with a Highway Patrol Officer proves to be the fast patter of politically correct comedy. All the buzz words are there and the back and forth is hilarious.\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8264″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8260″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8259″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]Wong\u2019s use of disability as comedic fodder doesn\u2019t feel awkward or exploitative. Linthorst\u2019s script and Wong\u2019s direction put Scotty at the center of the narrative. His lifetime without control of his body or its functions has left an ugly scar on his psyche, but as in most road-movies, there are some pretty predictable turn-arounds and tear jerks too. Do their wishes come true?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This could have been a touchy subject, but Come as You Are<\/i> is both familiar and fresh. The nice thing here is that this movie doesn\u2019t try to be more than what it is. Even in the film\u2019s final scenes that reach for deeper emotion, there\u2019s no overly treacly sweetness. Without becoming saccharine, there is enough charm in this non-judgmental story, so as we suggest, just Come as You Are.<\/i><\/p>\n

Samuel Goldwyn Films\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>1 hour 46 minutes \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Not Rated\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Available on YouTube, Amazon Prime, Google Play, and Vudu<\/i>[\/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=s29hTB7c8GA” el_width=”80″ align=”center” css_animation=”fadeInUp”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]What a sweet, surprisingly funny buddy road trip of three men with disabilities hell bent on losing their virginity. This film is enlightening, respectful and smart. The story is set in motion when the three men discover there\u2019s a brothel in Montreal, Le Chateau Paradis, that caters to men with special needs.\u00a0 Director Richard Wong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8258,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8252"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8272,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8252\/revisions\/8272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviesandshakers.com\/staging\/4428\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}