MOSSBIE Review of Almost Normal

Almost Normal (2005)

Good concept burdened by irritating and confusing script

[17 July 2006]

Writer/Director Moody had the germ of an idea which might have worked if not done so earnestly; therefore making this muddled and filled with holes script barely reasonable.Most of the high raters here, I suspect might be gay because the film impersonates cross sexuality being so black and white.Moody also refers to characters we never see except for a brother at the end.Things like a father wearing dark glasses after having eye dilation has no usefulness and takes up badly needed script time to help explain the missing plot.The mother and family are almost grotesque in their stupidity without any kind of humor and all of the work successful shows like "Queer As Folk" or "Will and Grace" did on TV to humanize gays, is lost in the meandering points which really do not show any ingenuity or even one memorable line or quote. Frankly,scenes like the professor's seduction of his sister-in-law is incestuous and weird and her curiosity about how good the sex was after he comes back to reality is obscene.The budget constraints probably had a lot to do with all the questions the viewers ask themselves while trying to figure out what the hell is happening on the screen.