Before You Know It (2019 film)

Before You Know It is a 2019 American comedy film directed by Hannah Pearl Utt. It was screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

Plot
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. Patriarch Mel (Mandy Patinkin) is a failed playwright; his daughter Jackie (Jen Tullock) is a quirky actress stuck in perennial adolescence despite being mother to teenage daughter Dodge (Oona Yaffe); his daughter Rachel (Utt) is a business-minded lesbian whose attempts to be the responsible member of the family have made her something of a control freak.

After Mel self-sabotages a career opportunity that Rachel has lined up for him, her angry outburst causes him to have 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 (Judith Light), who has been left ownership of the theatre and the family home in Mel's will.

Cast

 * Jen Tullock as Jackie Gurner
 * Hannah Utt as Rachel Gurner
 * Oona Yaffe as Dodge Gurner
 * Mandy Patinkin as Mel Gurner
 * Alec Baldwin as Peter
 * Mike Colter as Charles
 * Judith Light as Sherrell
 * Linda Arroz as Rhonda