Sixteen Candles (1984)

**Spoiler Alert**

At the close of the second act, what I believe to be the central theme of Anything's Possible  hit me. It's a moment right after Khalid (Khal), played by Abubakr Ali, scuffles it up with his now ex-BFF Otis (Grant Reynolds). I'll get to that in a sec...

Anything's Possible is Billy Porter's directorial debut. It's a high school rom-com with a remixed trope:  boy meets cute girl (who just so happens to be trans), boy loses cute girl, boy gets cute girl back. Cue Janet Jackson's "Free Xone" from Velvet Rope. And their meet-cute is pretty simple; the moment Kelsa's (Eva Reign) blush of a smile and sparklers bedazzles Khal, it's on like buttered popcorn. Or at least goofily apparent they are destined for, at least, the next 98 minutes.

One signature of this Porter-directed high school rom-com is that these kids were "serving looks," as they say. Kelsa's besties Em (Courtnee Carter) and Chris (Kelly Lamor Wilson) are funky-fly-fresh with their own soundtrack. Still, our introduction to this bouncy, rhythmic trio of blue-haired, spacesuit-bedecked, midriff-baring with a boa crew is as expected for teenage besties in cahoots. Porter's light, artsy, syncopated entree into this genre was a little Sixteen Candles a skosh of  High School Musical, mixed with a sprinkle of Crush.