I myself love the Idea. I think anyone GLBT person who went through the public school system could appreciate the idea of waking up back in High School in a world were we were considered normal. However this very basic Idea is where my love for this movie ends. The first problem the acting was horrible! You could tell from the first few minutes where every character either overacts or underacts his part. The second problem with the movie was the script and the speed of which events took place. The movie was very short and it really showed. You barley see his supposedly horrible lonely life at 40 before the audience is whisked away back to the main characters teen years. Once their things move at super speed. Within 10 minutes of waking up 22 years younger not only does he completely believe that he traveled back in time to a reality where gay is normal( I could see at least a few minutes being spent on thinking this is a trick or a drunken dream)but he runs into his dream guy who is obviously in love with him. Give him at least a few minutes to explore his new environment. Of course within the next few minutes they become boyfriends. Now the next part of the plot wouldn't have been my favorite even in a good movie but I could have accepted it if it had been done well. Again within a few minutes of declaring himself in love with his hunk boyfriend he meets this new girl and immediately falls for her. First have the character spend more than 10 minutes with the guy he has been lusting after for 22 years.I would have liked to see at least half an hour spent on Brad and the main character as a couple. Lastly have a real sexual Identity struggle. In the movie shortly after declaring his love for Brad the main character meets the girl and falls immediately in love. Not even questioning the homosexual feelings he has always had. I'm not saying its impossible for a gay guy to fall in love with a girl, but their is usually a struggle period where the guy questions it. In this movie he falls immediately in love and never even considers Brad his crush for 22 years. Over all I wish they would remake this movie with Hollywood actors, a top notch script writer and a run time of two and a half hours. Overall the general idea is very good and with the right actors, script and time frame in which to display all the segments of the movie realistically and in depth it could be a great film portraying gay rights, gender neutral love and sexual identity struggle. If Hollywood remade it I might consider going to see it again.

Marc Moody has written and directed a film that is so earnest and reaches so high for making a significant statement that it is difficult not to admire the result. ALMOST NORMAL is so obviously a gay version of 'Back to the Future' by its own admission that it becomes a bit tedious and silly, and when accompanied by low budget and tenuous production values it is a little squeaky in achieving its self-imposed high standards, it comes very close to being a forgettable effort. So why is it so popular? It has spirit! Brad (J. Andrew Keitch in a fine film debut) is a 40-year-old closeted gay college professor in Nebraska who lives in fear of derision and is frustrated he is unable to live his life in a happy relationship. His good friend Julie (Joan Lauckner) is supportive and encourages Brad to return home for his parent's wedding anniversary. Brad does so reluctantly, finds the usual homophobic atmosphere and in a moment of weakness, drinks too much and has an auto accident. Miraculously, when he awakens, he has the appearance of a handsome high school kid and when he wanders into the world he discovers that there has been a major reversal: now it is normal to be gay and grossly distasteful to be a straight breeder. Even his parents are gay with breeder hosts for procreation purposes. Brad sees reverse discrimination now, is sought after by the high school jock Roland (Tim Hammer), enjoys the freedom of being openly gay, but meets the now new Julie and is strangely attracted to her, having to hide his new 'straight alliance' in a new closet. And the resolution of this new dilemma is the message of the film.Everything about the idea of the film makes the viewer want to love it, and it is a sweet little diversion of a film with some thinking material about prejudices. It is rough and hampered by many technical and casting and scripted errors, but it does give newcomer Marc Moody a strong grounding for making further films about gay life that seem to appear like seeds of ideas throughout this film. It needs polish but it is a good time and offers a wide audience a better perspective on what it feels like to live a life as an outsider. Grady Harp

A gay man, suffering a mid-life crises, feels sorry for himself, living an "almost normal" life. In an accidental event, he finds himself back in time, at his high school, where being gay is the norm, and being straight is an abomination. I loved the plot and the way it plays out. The acting was marginal. The most believable was Brad, except when he was "supposed" to be older. The other characters fell pretty flat.The "jock" love interest was the perfect vehicle to show that Brad was so smitten with his high school crush and his now accepted love life, that he fails to realize that even in this world, he is not normal, and again he searches to find self acceptance.

I liked this film because it brought a unique view to prejudice and misunderstanding. Here being gay is normal and straight (breeders) is not. The length and breadth of this perspective makes it quite persuasive. You get a chance to see life from the other side. Brad is 40, gay and not partnered. On his way home to attend his dysfunctional parents' 45th Anniversary an accident lets him go back in time to high school where he sees himself as straight and "alone" in a school where all the "normal" boys like boys and the girls like girls. The first time in school he fancied the star of the basketball team and knew he couldn't get him. Now he's there and the star is hoping to make it with him. Brad couldn't fix a car or do lots of other "straight" appearing things. Now he can and it makes him different. He doesn't like it. He comes out as straight in high school during the second visit and is attacked for it. The boy he wanted as a boyfriend turns out to be his friend and the girl he wanted as a friend turns out to be his girlfriend. Handled with humor and sincerity by a cast that handled the job well.