My Normal

Natalie works as a S&M dominatrix in New York. Her mother complains that she's wasting her psychology degree. She wants to be a filmmaker. She befriends the local weed delivery dealer Noah and starts dating Jasmine. When she finally gets on a movie set, it's in an underwhelming experience. She uses her unusual talent to make her movie a reality.

Despite the edgy shell of the lesbian dominatrix world, the interior is nothing too dramatic. The story is thin and short. There are a couple of interesting ideas and scenes. Nicole LaLiberte and Ty Jones are functional actors. There is simply not enough meat on the bones. This needs more work on the script if it intends to be a full feature.

People have been, and will continue to watch movies for various reasons. Some crave an action packed film to compensate for the lack of action in their own lives, some watch romance to believe that they will be swept off their feet. Some people watch educational films to widen their horizons, and many simply want to be entertained. Somewhere along the line people forgot the true power of film; the power to capture, and portray a world that the viewer might never understand otherwise. My Normal does exactly that. Through a great script, artistic editing, and a talented cast My Normal engages the viewer and allows them to see an underground world through the eyes of someone who understands it. The movie was sexy, clever, extremely funny, and eye opening. More people need to see this movie with an open mind that allows them to understand its true purpose. Loved it!

The greatest redeeming quality of My Normal is that it's so awful it becomes fun (I use that term dangerously loosely) to watch. There are so few truly quality movies produced in the lesbian genre, a quote from a genuinely good movie comes to mind, and forgive me for paraphrasing: (Audiences are|) so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand." The LGBT audience too often praises movies that in the mainstream would be considered unwatchable. When crumbs are all you get, you learn to appreciate even the most indigestible morsels.

The acting here, with the exception of Nicole LaLiberte and Ty Jones, is routinely atrocious. Other actors here simply act as set dressing for the leads. But the producers seem set on damning even their lead character by constantly placing a lit cigarette in her hand. The problem? She so obviously doesn't smoke, she looks like a 12-year old playing at grown-up. Ty Jones, playing a street-wise writer, is given such an astonishingly lack of vocabulary you wonder how he ever wrote a page of dialogue.

It's probably a good idea to have some vague knowledge of the content about which you write a script, but that doesn't stop anyone here. This film's projected as an erotic romp, but with the exception of a single scene or two, it's as innocuous as any prime-time show. Unless, of course, you define erotic as dildos sitting on counters, tables, chairs and stools.

There are few redeeming qualities in the script. The dialogue is actually laughable; see if you can get through an hour and 15 without talking back to the screen. Emotion is non-existent. The answer to stress relief, stress, employment and social lubrication is drugs. And what exceedingly few plot lines are interesting are never followed to their end. This film would much rather go for a broad laugh, yet it misses over and over. Truly, people from all walks of life should be offended by this movie.

There should be more LGBT content out there; God knows there's an audience. But of what does exist, there are scores of better choices than this self-satisfied "comedy."

At the beginning, I was a little worried at it's independent film qualities, but quickly realized it had quality actors, writer's, and directors. I'm sure it was way before it's time back in 2009, but it's time has definitely come!

I have seen this movie three times in the past 7 days. Besides being sexy and full of eye candy, it is simply off-the-hook weird and intensely entertaining. From a hot lesbian's perspective, you see the thrilling addictive side of being an S&M dominatrix. The adrenaline rush from sex power can become someone's "normal" life but unhappy consequences obviously stem from this cycle long term. It's a wild ride watching the main character struggle with her future and discover a promising way out. Aside from the being the hottest date movie ever, there are so many comical, funny lines sprinkled throughout the script. There were also points that get deeply philosophical, and I believe this is based on a true story. I can't imagine anyone could make this up which is why this flick is such a trip.