Right in the midst of important changes in her life, pre-operative male-to-female Bree Osborne (Felicity Huffman) learns that 17 years ago, she fathered a son, Toby (Kevin Zegers), now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.
Transamerica is a routine road-trip comedy-drama with a twist.
Eye for Film
August 10, 2007
Tucker's screenplay is sharp but also sensitive, so the ample good humour never drifts into high camp (apart from the scenes with Bree's mother - and SHE is straight).
As Bree, who started her unhappy life as Stanley, the angular Huffman, a fine comedic actress who carried home an Emmy this fall, is a compelling portrait of wounded dignity. She is wholly fascinating and heartbreaking.
A big part of the movie's success is Huffman's irresistible and remarkable performance as Bree, a character we identify with rather than feel alienated by.
Huffman's performance in Transamerica, as a pre-op male-to-female transsexual coping with the sudden emergence of a long-lost son, is much better than the movie it's in; indeed, she singlehandedly takes Transamerica to a higher plane.
It's a farce with heart, a meditation on identity, family and gender politics that has real faith in its characters -- even when the characters themselves lack it.
eFilmCritic.com
August 05, 2007
Comfort food for a comfortable audience, with the TV-familiar Huffman reassuring viewers that she's really a real woman underneath that unflattering make-up.
