Anything's Possible review: A grounded love story that succeeds in hitting the mark

Billy Porter's anticipated film Anything's Possible, premiered on July 22, 2022, on Amazon Prime Video, and it is safe to say that the much-talked-about film lived up to its hype. Following the story of young Kelsa (Eva Reign), the film explored teenage love, near-comical high school drama, and an insightful lesson on gender identity and acceptance.

Anything's Possible did lightly dive into the unfair gender bias and transphobia in certain ways, but the film did not let itself be defined by the fact that it is about a love story between a cis boy and a trans girl. By removing focus from this fact, the film normalized the relationship and delivered a sweet rom-com that stood out on its feet. The one-and-a-half-hour film had all the elements for an enjoyable watch.

Read on for a detailed review of Anything's Possible.

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Anything's Possible review: Less is more when talking about gender

One of the things that most films trying to talk about LGBTQ+ issues do wrong is to make the films all about gender. It is important, and in the early days of queer representation in cinema, it was extremely important. But now, with most film and TV genres accepting all forms of love, a film can be more useful in normalizing gender issues by treating them as a part of the plot and not the entire plot.

Much like Kelsa's character in the film, who once wonders why she talks and thinks about gender so much when straight people don't, this film, too, questions this trend in cinema. Ultimately, this results in a drama centering around a transgender girl's relationship but verging on a full-blown high school drama.

Beginning with the familiar girl meets boy premise, the surprisingly short film manages to establish characters really well in a limited period. The two leads, Kelsa and Khal (Abubakr Ali), have sizzling chemistry on-screen and are capable of dragging the wagon by themselves. However, they are well-supported by diligent, albeit not fully developed characters all around.

This could be one of the only drawbacks of the otherwise perfect film. The side characters feel incomplete at almost all times. This could be due to the lack of backstory or exposition given to them. For instance, Em (Courtnee Carter) was one of the main reasons behind the crisis in the film, but very little about her or her motivations was shown.

This lack of character development was helped by some brilliant acting from the main cast, especially Abubakr, whose shy demeanor and subtle nuances made everything extremely natural. Reign was a star from the moment she stepped on screen. Her delivery, confidence, and charm as a young Kelsa would have been hard to match for any other actor. With these characters, Porter proved what good casting can do for a film.

The film had tiny flaws that would have been noticeable if the film had not been this light-hearted. Porter's near-comical approach made it easy for the film's charm to overpower its flaws. It is not a film that would try to change how we view LGBTQ+ people right away, but it is a film that would teach how to embrace and normalize the same.

Anything's Possible is worth every bit of your time and understanding. It can both make you laugh and do wonders for your perspective. Billy Porter perhaps managed to hit all the right marks all around in this beautiful Amazon production.

Anything's Possible is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.