Come As You Are

A man sits on the beach watching a voluptuous woman in a bikini walking towards him. They embrace. He's a lucky guy. Then he wakes up. It's a dream and he has an erection that he's unable to do anything about. He's paraplegic with only enough power in his right hand to push his wheelchair's joystick and he relies on his mother to do everything for him. She pulls off his bed sheets to get him dressed and washed as he lies there mortified but to her it's just another day. It's a tough life. 

3 men decide to head to Canada to lose their respective virginities. Scotty (Grant Rosenmeyer), a man with paraplegia, his friend Mo (Ravi Patel), who's on the verge of blindness and Matt (Hayden Szeto), an ex-boxer who's illness has confined him to a wheelchair. Scotty's heard of a brothel in Montreal that caters to clients with disabilities and they decide to go on a roadtrip. The only issues are their over protective parents and the fact that none of them can drive, so they hire Sam (Gabourey Sidibe), a driver and carer and off they head on a trip that will change their lives. In more ways than one.

Imagine this film had been made 20 years ago. It has Farrelly Brothers written all over it. It would have been tasteless, jokey, wallowing in cringe and a tacky and mean look at disability and sexuality. Thankfully Richard Wong's remake of a 2011 Belgian film called Hasta La Vista has it's heart in the right place even if it goes about thing in a problematic fashion. It's 2020. It's supposedly a more enlightened time. The days of able bodied actors playing people with disabilities should be in the past but Come As You Are is yet another example of it and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth despite how well everything else is done. If you can get past it there's plenty here to enjoy but if it's something that bothers you you may want to give this a miss.

Despite it's big issue it's still a charming watch. It's funny, it's upsetting, it's heartfelt, it never invites us to take pity on the 3 amigos, it just presents us with a scenario that wouldn't even be an issue to abled bodied folk and gives us an insight into an aspect of life for people with disabilities that's rarely if ever talked about onscreen. They are horny young men, they just happen to find it harder than most to do anything about it. It also sheds light on the hardship of being a carer, the unsung heroes, the worries they have and the sense of panic when normal routines get interrupted, by say a surprise sex trip. It manages to weave a touching and thoughtful tale while still packing in the laughs. An awful night-time drive, a first ever headbutt, a porn filled motel tv, a brilliant slo-mo strut and these laughs really work because, like all good comedies should do, it makes us give a damn about the people we're watching.

Scotty's a hard guy to like but it's understandable why he's the way he is and Grant Rosenmeyer makes him grow on you despite the fact that he's "the asshole of the group." Ravi Patel as Mo is brilliant in a part that isn't as fleshed out as the others and Hayden Szeto as Matt nails the reality of his situation. The 3 work well together, bouncing off each other like real friends would. Gabourey Sidibe gets the short straw in a part that feels like it was cut down in the editing room (one subplot involving her health pops up and vanishes) and you get the sense that more of her Sam would have only added to the film, especially in the quieter moments she shares with Mo. But thankfully, a little bit of tenderness goes a long way.

Come As You Are is out now on google movies to rent or buy. It's a nice film if you can get past it's one big problem.