Away at an artist retreat the very shy Al, finds that he has to decide whether or not to confess his feelings for his best friend or lose him to a rival.
Billed as a sweet and raunchy trans rom-com in the Tribeca material, SOMETHING YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ME may have a tough time finding it's intended audience because of the fake political divide that some pundits are using to try and control the country. That's sad because the film could be a life line for a shy gay or trans kid who needs to know that their are people like them out there. I really think that for a some people this film is going to connect to them and give hope.
The trouble is that as good as this film is in many places it has some serious issues that are going to keep it from connecting to a larger audience.
The first problem is that the humor here doesn';t always land. Some times the jokes are a bit too low brow and are groaners, and sometimes they are ill timed. The placement and the level of the jokes doesn't always work with the film coming off busted TV sitcom pilot.
The more damaging problem is EJ Marcus as Al. I don't know if it's because of the way it's written or because of the way Marcus portrays him but Al comes off as wildly much too closed up and one note. No matter what happens Al never connects to the audience. There is a downbeat nature to the performance and even when things result in happiness it never fully bleeds off the screen. I love that Al connects to the people on the screen, but for me Al was the one character up there that I felt nothing about. I almost always connect to the outsider lead character and root for them and here I felt nothinng. I liked everyone else in the film but not our hero. Its a fatal flaw that punches a huge hole in the center of the film and makes everything seem worse.
There are some great things here, a sense of life, some great secondary characters and some awesome animation, but the film is undone by uneven comedy and not particularly well done lead character.
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