Movie Review: Any Day Now

I have to start by thanking Milwaukee Film for bringing another great movie to Milwaukee for its members. And it was the first time that I have been to a movie where tissues were handed out beforehand. While I did not need the tissues it gives you a pretty good idea what kind of movie this is.

Any Day Now is based on a true story of a gay couple who try to adopt a child with down syndrome in the 70’s. Alan Cumming plays Rudy a drag queen who lives in a rundown apartment. His drug addict neighbor has a down syndrome boy Marco that she neglects on a regular basis. Marco is left alone when his mother is arrested for drug possession and he is placed in a foster home. That night Rudy finds Marco wondering the streets as he tries to find his way back the apartment after running away from the foster home. Rudy feels sorry for him and brings him home and lets him spend the night and gives him some food. Rudy recently met Paul a lawyer in the District Attorney’s office who has not come out of the closet yet. Having no one else to help him Rudy turns to Paul for help. As Paul starts to come to grips with his sexuality he needs to make a decision if he should help Rudy and Marco. Every step of the way is difficult and more challenging. As they start to become a family they are forced into a confrontation with a discriminatory legal system.

The movie is both a love story between Rudy and Paul and a courtroom drama as they fight for custody of the abandoned boy. We are not told much about Rudy’s background but he seems to quickly jump into relationships and have everything work out ok. He ends up moving in with Paul after only knowing him for a few days and has Marco move in with them. It all seems a bit fast and odd. It is Alan Cumming’s great performance that saves the movie. While we don’t understand Rudy we really feel his bond with Marco and frustration with Paul for just accepting the discrimination as a fact that cannot be changed. Once the relationship of the three of them is established the movie tackles the hard issue of a gay couple trying to adopt a boy that no one seems to want except them. While the movie takes place in the 70’s you get the feeling that not much has changed and they would face much of the same discrimination today.

Overall 3 out of 5 stars. The relationships in the beginning seems a bit forced only saved by Alan Cumming’s performance. But the courtroom drama in the latter half of the movie is engrossing.