[3] Renzo Parachi, a mild-mannered man living in the small town of Long Bay, Ontario, whose quiet, unassuming life working at the local brewery and playing hockey for the company team is transformed when Alonzo Turner comes to town, ingratiating himself as Renzo's new roommate and convincing him to invest in an Italian restaurant where the servers will sing Bellini's Norma.

[5] Telefilm Canada contributed funding to the script's development due to a noncommittal letter of distribution interest from Cineplex Odeon Films.

He liked Paizs's comedic sense, but he was inexperienced and Simoneau was "a born movie director", but had never directed an English-language film.

[10] The budget had $1.5 million in contributions from Telefilm, $750,000 from British equity, $725,000 from the OFDC, $425,000 from private investors, $350,000 from Alliance Films, and $25,000 in deferrals.

Clarkson created a deal with Simon Relph, the head of British Screen Financing, in which Perfectly Normal and The Reflecting Skin would be co-financed.

Burns submitted the script to Dempsey without noticing that Lipinski wrote shit and fuck in the margins using crayons.

Burns and Simoneau completed a two hour and five minute long rough cut on 23 January 1990, after two weeks of editing.

Burns mostly completed the editing process with Ronald Sanders by the end of February, but continued until May after being rejected by the Cannes Film Festival.

Burns unsuccessfully offered the rights to Castle Hill Productions, Orion Classics, and The Samuel Goldwyn Company.

[18] The theatrical release in Canada was delayed, against the wishes of Alliance, in order to wait for someone to acquire the rights for the United States.

The success at the Carlton Cinema was attributed to the larger gay audience in the area and other films in the theatre being sold out.

The Village Voice's review stated that "arty angled camera work succeeds only in making everyone look like they're standing on the decks of the Edmund Fitzgerald".