Almost Normal is like a mixture of Back to the Future, Peggy Sue Got Married and Pleasentville but if Marty McFly were gay. The story follows the character of Brad, a 40 year old very single gay college professor who is depressed about his current mid-life situation.
One day he finds himself magically transported back in time to his old high school years. But something has changed; almost everyone is gay (with exception of the straight rebels of course).The plot line isn't just ridiculous, it's over the top ridiculous. Not only that but it's a message film, and usually that's a bad thing but in this case it saves it. "The minute you accept that you are different is the moment you become normal," Brad tells Julie. This movie asks the question what is normal anyways.
However at the same time this film may be hard to take for most straight viewers. Let me first disclose that I'm based out of Boston, MA where the whole same sex marriage movement happened, and am moving in two months to San Francisco which is probably home to the gayest community in at least the United States (am I wrong here?). So I'm obviously very liberal and and far from homophobic. Having said that, there were still parts of this movie which were uncomfortable for me to watch. And I know saying that is completely and utterly wrong, but I must warn those of you who may not want to see this type of content to stay away. And that's sad because this film's message is a very good one and could benefit the people that it may scare away. I think if the director really wanted to reach some people he should have made it more access able in this respect.
I'm not going to give away the huge twist but it's a good one. The acting is decent for an indie but in the reel world, there is no way could it be considered good. The movie looks to have been shot on video (although I could be wrong). Combined with a good script and a great score I recommend this film to anyone who is open enough to watch it.