Transamerica (C or 2/4 stars)
Felicity Huffman huffs it across the country in 'Transamerica', a dramedy written & directed by Duncan Tucker. Bree (Huffman) is a transsexual woman who is living in Los Angeles, one week away from her final sex-change operation. She receives a phone call from 17 yr. old Toby (Kevin Zegers). He is looking for his dad, Stanley (this, of course, is Bree), to come to New York, post bail, & get him out of jail. Apparently Stanley had a one-night-stand with a girl in College and ... voila. Bree's therapist won't approve the surgery until she deals with her new-found son. She gathers some money, flies to N.Y., retrieves him, & the rest of the story involves their journey home to California. Felicity Huffman is quietly amazing in this role; but the movie itself is not half as impressive.
Toby is a drugged-up male hustler who has a checkered past (he even has aspirations of becoming a gay porn star, but who is Stanley/Bree to judge, right?). Without much explanation or hesitation, the authorities hand him over to Bree (pretending to be a Christian missionary who is eager to convert sinners). Are you kidding me? They find an old beat-up car & away they go. She doesn't know that he just wants to escape from her so that he can make it to L.A. and search for his dad. He doesn't know that Bree intends on dumping him with his stepdad in Kentucky. But Bree also doesn't know that said stepdad is a molester. Things just get weirder & weirder.
Along the way they stop at a sex-change support group (to which Bree is horrified). They run into a pot-smoking hitchhiker who steals their car. They meet a hospitable Native American named Calvin Two-Goats. He falls for Bree and hopes that one day, she looks him up. And then the film goes overboard when they make way to Bree's family. Her father is indifferent to everything. Her sister is bitter. And her flashy mother (Fionnula Fanagan, with the worst American accent I've ever heard). They aren't accepting of Stanley/Bree's life choice, but they are desperate for a grandson. Does the cat come out of the bag? How would Toby react to learning the truth if it does come out? Does Bree follow through with the surgery? Will Toby pursue his gay porn star dream? Just the fact that I'm typing these particular questions shows how predictable - but also - how atrocious so many of the scenarios are, cinematically.
Felicity Huffman plays Bree as educated, intelligent, and almost ... an everyday man/woman. Who knows if Stanley's gay; it's not brought up in this film. He honestly thinks he's a woman & needs this last surgery to make his goal complete. But would he be satisfied with the final outcome? Huffman conveys deadpan humor, compassion, sensitivity, street-smarts, pain, & bravery quite well. Had the movie been better, she really could have given Reese Witherspoon a run for her money at the Oscars. This is the story of Bree and Toby, father & son, on a journey to understanding themselves and each other. But these written words don't tell the whole vivid story. At times, the film is hokey, overly colorful, overly indulgent in its' quirky, touchy subject matter.
Toby is a drugged-up male hustler who has a checkered past (he even has aspirations of becoming a gay porn star, but who is Stanley/Bree to judge, right?). Without much explanation or hesitation, the authorities hand him over to Bree (pretending to be a Christian missionary who is eager to convert sinners). Are you kidding me? They find an old beat-up car & away they go. She doesn't know that he just wants to escape from her so that he can make it to L.A. and search for his dad. He doesn't know that Bree intends on dumping him with his stepdad in Kentucky. But Bree also doesn't know that said stepdad is a molester. Things just get weirder & weirder.
Along the way they stop at a sex-change support group (to which Bree is horrified). They run into a pot-smoking hitchhiker who steals their car. They meet a hospitable Native American named Calvin Two-Goats. He falls for Bree and hopes that one day, she looks him up. And then the film goes overboard when they make way to Bree's family. Her father is indifferent to everything. Her sister is bitter. And her flashy mother (Fionnula Fanagan, with the worst American accent I've ever heard). They aren't accepting of Stanley/Bree's life choice, but they are desperate for a grandson. Does the cat come out of the bag? How would Toby react to learning the truth if it does come out? Does Bree follow through with the surgery? Will Toby pursue his gay porn star dream? Just the fact that I'm typing these particular questions shows how predictable - but also - how atrocious so many of the scenarios are, cinematically.
Felicity Huffman plays Bree as educated, intelligent, and almost ... an everyday man/woman. Who knows if Stanley's gay; it's not brought up in this film. He honestly thinks he's a woman & needs this last surgery to make his goal complete. But would he be satisfied with the final outcome? Huffman conveys deadpan humor, compassion, sensitivity, street-smarts, pain, & bravery quite well. Had the movie been better, she really could have given Reese Witherspoon a run for her money at the Oscars. This is the story of Bree and Toby, father & son, on a journey to understanding themselves and each other. But these written words don't tell the whole vivid story. At times, the film is hokey, overly colorful, overly indulgent in its' quirky, touchy subject matter.