''Come as You Are'' is a 2019 American

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by Richard Wong and starring Grant Rosenmeyer,

Hayden Szeto Hayden Chun Hay Szeto (born September 11, 1985) is a Canadian actor, known for his role as Erwin Kim in the comedy-drama film ''The Edge of Seventeen'' (2016). In 2017, he portrayed Ken Luang in the NBC comedy series ''The Good Place''. Early li ...

, Ravi Patel and

Gabourey Sidibe Gabourey Sidibe ( ; born May 6, 1983) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the 2009 film '' Precious'', a role that earned her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, in addition to nominations for the Golden Globe ...

. Produced and financed by Chicago Media Angels and The Blacklist, it is a remake of the 2011 Belgian film '' Hasta la Vista''. The plot concerns three friends who, along with a hired driver, set out for a brothel in Montreal that caters to people with disabilities.

Plot

Scotty, Matt, and Mo befriend each other while attending a physical therapy center. Twentysomething Scotty has been a paraplegic since birth and lives with his overbearing mother Liz. Matt, an Asian-American former athlete, has recently begun using a wheelchair and lives with his parents and sister. Mo, of South Asian ethnicity, is in his 30s and blind. All three men seem resigned to their situations as lifelong virgins, until Scotty learns about a brothel in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

that specifically caters to men with disabilities. He persuades Matt and Mo to secretly hire a special needs van and a driver, and the trio sneaks out of their respective homes to hit the road. The road trip involves various pit stops and misadventures, including a

jazz club A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is licens ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and a run-in with a state trooper. The men, as well as driver Sam, also confront prejudice due to their disabilities and their respective ethnicities. Meanwhile, the men's parents are working together to track down their sons.

Cast

Release

''Come as You Are'' premiered at the 2019

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has continued growing in both s ...

. At the Napa Valley Film Festival it won an Audience Award, and it was an opening night film at SF IndieFest. It received a limited release in the United States on February 14, 2020.

Reception

On the

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website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "''Come As You Are'' approaches sensitive subjects with heart and humor, taking audiences on a thoroughly entertaining road trip to a crowd-pleasing destination." On

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

, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. G. Allen Johnson of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' said that though the film appears to be a predictable "guys-trying-to-lose-their-virginity"

sex comedy Sexual comedy (also known as, sex comedy and erotic comedy) is a genre in which comedy is motivated by sexual situations and love affairs. Although "sexual comedy" is primarily a description of dramatic forms such as theatre and film, literary wor ...

, it surprises viewers with its empathy and depth. He wrote, "Crass and confrontational at the outset, 'Come as You Are' achieves a winning sense of vulnerability", adding it "is a funny and moving crowd-pleaser". Writing for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', Wendy Ide said the film "explores its theme of sexuality and disability with admirable candour". The ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American writer. He is a former columnist and film critic for the '' Chicago Sun-Times'', where he wrote for 39 years dating back to 1986 until his departure in 2025. He co-hosted the television s ...

said the film "earns its laughs and tears". Despite praise for the direction, script, and humor, critics pointed out how the casting of able-bodied actors as disabled characters presented a missed opportunity for the film. In August 2021, during Edinburgh TV Festival's

MacTaggart Lecture The Edinburgh International Television Festival is an annual media event held in Edinburgh, Scotland, each August that brings together delegates from the television and digital world to debate the major issues facing the industry. The Festi ...

, British screenwriter and disability campaigner

Jack Thorne Jack Thorne FRSL (born 6 December 1978) is a British playwright, television writer, screenwriter, and producer. A massive fan of hard science fiction, he is best known for writing the stage play '' Harry Potter and the Cursed Child'', the fil ...

cited the film as an example of

ableism Ableism (; also known as ablism, disablism (British English), anapirophobia, anapirism, and disability discrimination) is discrimination and social prejudice against physically or mentally disabled people. Ableism characterizes people as they a ...

in the film and television industries, highlighting the lack of disabled actors in the cast.

References

External links