Before You Know It is a 2019 American comedy film directed by Hannah Pearl Utt. It was co-written by, and stars, Utt and Jen Tullock. Judith Light, Mike Colter, Mandy Patinkin, and Alec Baldwin appear in supporting roles. It was screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
The film centres on a dysfunctional and codependent family who are struggling to maintain the family business, a small community theatre in New York City, where father Mel performs – in plays he has written – to an ever dwindling audience. Mel's eldest daughter, Jackie, is a quirky actress stuck in perennial adolescence despite being mother to teenage daughter Dodge. Mel's younger daughter, Rachel, is a business-minded lesbian whose attempts to be the responsible member of the family have made her something of a control freak.
Mel self-sabotages a playwright fellowship, complete with a major premiere of his latest play, that Rachel has lined up for him. Her angry outburst is followed minutes later by him having a fatal heart attack, which leads to the discovery that he had lied to her and Jackie for much of their lives about the identity and death of their mother; their real mother is in fact soap opera actress Sherrell, who has been left ownership of the theatre and the family home in Mel's will.

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