Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

Anyone who sees Pittsburgh native Billy Porter’s feature film directorial debut “Anything’s Possible,” now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video, will never question his love for his hometown.

From multiple beauty shots of the city and recognizable locations — Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh CAPA (Porter’s alma mater, but not at its current location), the Andy Warhol Museum, Roberto Clemente Bridge, National Aviary, Duquesne Incline — to a high school class studying and name-checking past mayors (Caligiuri, Masloff, Murphy) and their contributions to civic life, Porter gives Pittsburgh a loving embrace that fits the vibe of this big-hearted, often funny romantic comedy about a cisgender Muslim high school boy who falls for a trans girl.

Porter, who starred in FX’s trans drama “Pose,” has made no secret of his desire to tell a joyful trans story that eschews trauma. The 95-minute “Anything’s Possible” certainly fulfills that goal. Early on, it hews to teen rom-com tropes: Khal (Abubakr Ali) has a crush on Kelsa (Eva Reign), who takes notice of Khal but then runs into conflict when Kelsa’s friend Em (Courtnee Carter) expresses her interest in the same guy.

From there, “Anything’s Possible” works its way into more challenging terrain.

“When exactly am I supposed to disclose I’m trans?” Kelsa says in a video post to her YouTube Channel. “I’m not worried about harassment, just people only pretending to like me to be woke.”

The film gently explores trans panic and concerns about Kelsa’s safety while Khal’s best friend wonders aloud if Khal is gay. But these moments and the stakes that accompany them are speed bumps — not impenetrable impediments — to a satisfying-but-realistic conclusion.

“You can’t tell a story without conflict,” Porter said in a Zoom interview earlier this month, a day after the film’s world premiere in Los Angeles. “And this is a story about a trans girl, so the conflict is going to be about transness.”

• TV Talk: Pittsburgh Glass Center employee competes on Netflix's 'Blown Away' • TV Talk: Peak TV peaks; broadcasters receive regional Emmy recognition • TV Talk: Billy Porter on 'Who Do You Think You Are?,' 'Better Call Saul' marches toward its finale

Early in the movie, Kelsa remarks on how “nice” Khal is — and he is! — which also is an apt description of “Anything’s Possible.” It’s a nice movie that offers a warm embrace, which means it won’t be edgy enough for some viewers. And that’s OK. As the first major trans teen rom-com, the film could never be everything to everyone.

Vestiges of the film’s original title, “What If …?,” can still be heard in dialogue, but Porter also manages to sneak the final title into some voiceover narration. (The film also delivers a glimpse of the mural of Porter by artist Camerin “Camo” Nesbit that’s along the riverwalk beneath the Fort Duquesne Bridge.)

Pittsburghers may quibble with a few choices — making it appear the National Aviary is inside Phipps Conservatory; the contention that Masloff was “the first to suggest stadiums be built for the city’s sports teams” (I’m going to assume the word “new” got dropped and it was meant to be “new stadiums”) — but, overall, “Anything’s Possible” delivers a postcard-perfect view of the city.

“(People) still think we’re in the Dark Ages, and you’re still talking about steel that hasn’t been there for over 50 years,” Porter said of his desire to correct some people’s mistaken impressions of Pittsburgh. “Our government officials, instead of blaming nameless, faceless immigrants, took responsibility for where our city needed to go and created something else, something so extraordinary, from hospitals to the arts, to the colleges, to East Coast Silicon Valley to Uber.”

And then there are the familiar faces from Pittsburgh film and stage fame in “Anything’s Possible,” including Billy Hartung as a school administrator (“We were in dance class together in Mt. Lebanon, and his parents drove me in their pickup truck all the way to East Liberty after every Tuesday class,” Porter said) and Lenora Nemetz as an art teacher (“My mentor,” Porter said).

Walter McReady, who performed with Porter at Kennywood in 1984, plays a teacher (named Mr. Alderdice in the credits). Miriam Laube, who also worked with Porter at Kennywood, plays Khal’s mother. Manu Narayan, who plays Khal’s father, was a CLO Mini Star with Porter and graduated from Carnegie Mellon in 1996. Ken Lutz, who plays a librarian, was Porter’s middle school instrumental and theater teacher.

“I called on my peeps so they could make me look good, honey,” Porter said.

Porter’s fellow CMU School of Drama grad, Renee Elise Goldsberry (Class of ’93), plays Kelsa’s mom; 1990 CMU grad Vanita Harbour appears as Miranda Vaughan. They’re joined by other CMU grads, including Simone Joy Jones and Grant Reynolds (both Class of 2021) and current CMU student Noah Pacht, current Penn State student Lav Raman, who grew up outside Pittsburgh, and 2021 Point Park University graduate Caroline Travers.

Porter said Kelsa’s house number, 5801, is a welcome coincidence and not an intentional ode to the LGBTQ nightclub and café, 5801, on Ellsworth Avenue in Shadyside. (“It’s a coincidence-ode,” Porter said, chuckling.)

In recent years, Porter has not been shy about the challenges of growing up gay and Black in Pittsburgh, but “Anything’s Possible” shows he’s not holding on to resentments toward his birth city.

“I had my period of time where I did go away. I’m 52 years old and, as one gets older, if we do the right kind of work and we lead with loving-kindness and compassion, things are revealed from our past to us that allow for us to heal, allow for us to understand and be compassionate of where maybe those negative things came from and forgiveness takes hold,” Porter said. “It wasn’t all bad for me there. There were also angels at every turn in my life who guided me in the right direction, who buoyed me, who believed in me in ways that I didn’t even know how to believe in myself.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)