TRANSAMERICA
Directed & Written by: Duncan Tucker.
Produced by: Rene Bastian, Sebastian Dungan & Linda Moran.
Director of Photography: Stephen Kazmierski.
Edited by: Pam Wise.
Music by: David Mansfield.
Released by: The Weinstein Company.
Country of Origin: USA. 103 min. Rated: R.
With: Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zegers, Fionnula Flanagan, Elizabeth Peña, Graham Greene & Burt Young.

Breakfast on Pluto tried but failed to make you laugh while Brokeback Mountain may have brought a tear to your eye. Transamerica, the latest in a spat of films with gay or transgender protagonists, will make you laugh and pull at your heartstrings the way a quality sitcom or TV drama like Frasier or Ally McBeal did, only better.

Sabrina “Bree” Osborne (Felicity Huffman), a transsexual, wants to live under the radar, hoping no one suspects she used to be a man named Stanley. As Bree’s about to undergo her final transforming operation, she discovers that the one time she had sex as Stanley she may have fathered a child. Much to Bree’s chagrin, her therapist (Elizabeth Peña) roadblocks the final surgery in order for Bree to confirm and, if necessary, come to terms with parenthood. Bree reluctantly travels from Los Angeles to New York and finds she does indeed have a son, Toby (Kevin Zegers), who, it turns out, is alone in the world. His mother killed herself, his stepfather sexually abused him, and he is a gay hustler on drugs. At this point, Transamerica becomes a road movie of sorts as Brie and Toby make their winding, adventure-filled way back West, each with their respective secrets and lies.

Transamerica is both contrived and predictable: Bree and Toby inevitably warm to each other, and Bree’s parents begin to accept her. Huffman saves the movie from banality with good acting, honed by her theater experience and snappy dead-on comedic timing, as evident on her former TV series Sports Night and, currently, Desperate Housewives. The supporting cast seems to be having a good time too, as when Toby proves more comfortable with transsexuals, whether they’re under the radar or not, than Bree herself. In the end though, Transamerica is as much fun as an Almodóvar film (think All About My Mother), but one that’s been watered down sentimentally for an American audience.

The film also adds fuel to a steadily growing fire. For while you have to look far and wide for examples of openly queer actors playing queer (Rupert Everett in My Best Friend's Wedding and Ian McKellen in Gods and Monsters come to mind), there's currently a constant stream of straights playing queer in what seems like shameless bids for awards and critical acclaim. Transamerica makes you wonder whether this trend will become a permanent state of affairs. Steven Cordova, contributing editor and poet (Slow Dissolve, Momotombo Press)
December 9, 2005