Review // Two 4 One

Two 4 One tells the story of Adam (Gavin Crawford), a transgendered man who accidentally falls pregnant on the eve of deciding to finally transition physically. The film is essentially a character study on Adam and his gender identity as he tries to navigate between his semi-stalker ex-girlfriend who is desperate to have a baby, and his own desires to live the life he’s always wanted to.

The film offers a heartfelt look at the bizarre “medical miracle” that propels the comedy, but for such a progressive story it’s riddled with over used clichés and a very timid approach to storytelling. All of the characters are stereotypical. Adam is very much a dude, he drives a bike he built from scratch, enjoys a pick-up game of road hockey with relative strangers, and feels obligated to go for drinks with his male co-workers who watch sports and discuss how manly their drink selections are. Then there’s Adam’s baby crazy ex-girlfriend Miriam (Naomi Snieckus), a mishmash caricature of a commitment phobic lesbian, a woman in her 40s who feels the ticking of her biological clock, and a crazy stalker ex-girlfriend. Lastly, there’s Adam’s feminist single mum, Franny (Gabrielle Rose), a hippie from an era long ago she’s pretty much the typical supportive parent. The two dimensional characters might be the result of the poorly written script, which also fails to bring any real drama to the film. Sure, the stakes get raised but pretty superficially, Adam is heavily in debt, Adam wants to be a man physically and can’t because he is pregnant, Adam can’t afford an abortion. He’s a transman adjusting to the fact that there is still something incredibly female about him – that should be fodder for incredible character growth but instead in true Canadian film fashion its abandoned for weak jokes and toeing the PC line.

Thankfully, Gavin Crawford is able to turn Adam into a fairly likeable and sympathetic character who just has to deal with the over dramatic crazy women around him. Any attempt to make the flat character three dimensional felt forced. However, there’s a sincerity in the acting, which really makes Two 4 One feel like a labour of love and rightly so. Despite its short comings, Two 4 One does provide a sincere look at a quiet trans life, far from Hollywood hype, the mundane day to day of a trans individual and the real problems they face – from bureaucratic nonsense to simply fitting in. At the very least Two 4 One is a positive exploration of gender norms and identity. The downfall of the film comes in the meandering story line and poorly developed characters. It might have worked better as a short.

Reviewed by Vithiya Murugadas.