When Chris Kattan is the straightest guy in a film, you know you're watching a very gay movie. Yet Adam & Steve explores themes and situations universal to all dating relationships. So the fact that it's a love story between two guys shouldn't turn anyone away. The projectile vomiting and defecation should.
Adam & Steve begins in 1987, when the former (Craig Chester) and the latter (Malcolm Gets) meet in a nightclub. Although Adam's a black-clad goth and Steve's a glitter-clad glam-rocker, it's love at first sight. The two snort a few bumps of cocaine and retire to Adam's apartment, where Steve disrobes and begins to flex his muscles. Unfortunately, the coke was cut with baby laxative, so when Steve flexes the wrong muscles, a rather unpleasant housewarming gift winds up splattering down in front of Adam, who, understandably, throws up.
If you have the stomach to keep watching, the movie flashes ahead to present. The 18-year-old debacle has scarred both men. Adam, having been introduced to cocaine that night, is now in AA, and Steve, afraid of a serious relationship again taking a turn for the filthy, has taken to promiscuous sex in public showers, where he can obsessively scrub his partner. When a series of events too convoluted to explain takes place, the two meet again and fail to recognize each other, so it's love at second sight.
This is where the film loses its way. We know eventually they'll recall their first encounter and have to deal with it, but in the meantime, there's a lot of filler where writer/director Craig Chester bites off more than he can chew. He tackles the whole spectrum of dating troubles: misunderstandings, awkward parents, disapproving friends, hot exes, baggage. But rather than using the humor inherent in these situations based on universal truths, Chester opts for forced wackiness with ideas such as making Adam's parents cursed.
The moments of romance are similarly forced. By the end, Steve winds up restraining a gay basher and makes him deliver a heartfelt message to Adam. It's a good message, but it's delivered forcefully and vicariously through the lips of a bigot. How romantic.