Reel Affirmations: The Nation's LGBT Film Festival 2008

Free At Five

As a harried single mother in Normal Heights, USA, Andrea is having a tough time of it. Although her son Joshua is a smart, happy and enthusiastic ten-year-old, she worries that he's on the wrong track. With each summons to the Mother Superior's office at Joshua's private school, Andrea searches for answers to a nagging problem: How can she convince him that aspiring to be on the cheerleading squad, relishing the art of the French braid and calling Maria von Trapp his most influential role model is just not what little boys do? When you wish for a son on the wrestling team, how do you deal with one who loves fashion, dolls and pyramid formations?

In this quirky and touching take on the modern family, one woman must strip away all her illusions to seek a kind of peace with herself and her son. Some hard advice from her gay next-door neighbor Charlie (played by Michael Emerson, everyone's favorite villain from "Lost") helps Andrea turn her focus in the right direction: inward. Embracing Joshua's individuality rather than fearing it might be the only answer, but can she do it?

With comically truthful performances and a healthy dash of wacky farce, Ready? OK! explores a family on the verge of either destruction or elevation. Sometimes all it takes to figure things out is a deep breath and the perfect cheer.