Stars: Felicity Huffman, Fionnula Flanagan, Kevin Zeggers, Graham Greene, Burt Young, Elizabeth Pena, Amanda Addams

Director: Duncan Tucker

Summary: Felicity Huffman leaves the glamour of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES behind and makes a surprising diversion with this offbeat film. Playing an uptight male-to-female transsexual named Sabrina Bree Osbourne (nee Stanley), Huffman gives a remarkable performance. Readying herself for the final snip that will make her womanly transformation complete, Bree's life takes a sudden turn when she receives a phone call from New York. Her son, Toby (Kevin Zegers), has been jailed, and Bree needs to post bail for him. The only problem is, Bree didn't know she had a son, but her therapist refuses to give her written permission to have the final part of her sex-change operation if she doesn't go, so Bree heads east from her California home. Thinking Bree is a Christian missionary, gay hustler Toby informs her of his intention to becom a porn star on the west coast, which brings out plenty of motherly instincts in the worried cross-gender father. So the two take a road trip back west, with Bree flailing in her attempts to tell Toby the truths about who she is and what she once was. Writer/director Duncan Tucker gets the balance between comedy and drama just right as he gently squeezes Bree's various revelations to Toby onto the screen. But it's Huffman who really shines, with her vocal inflections, makeup, and acting skills perfectly combining to give a convincing performance as the ultra-conservative Bree. Tucker doesn't focus too much on Bree's gender-hopping, instead crafting an emotional portrait of a highly dysfunctional family, while constantly dragging his audience back from the brink by weaving a killer laugh-out-loud line into the plot. A fine supporting cast in particular Fionnula Flanagan (THE OTHERS) as Bree's hilariously overbearing mother helps to deflect from the film's low-budget origins, with pithy dialogue and energetic performances combining to make TRANSAMERICA a wonderfully satisfying treat.

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Felicity Huffman deserves every award she's received for her outstanding performance in Transamerica, a small but rich movie about Bree--formerly Stanley--a pre-operative male-to-female transexual awaiting gender-reassignment surgery who learns she has a wayward teenage son named Toby. When her therapist (Elizabeth Peña, Jacob's Ladder) strongarms Bree into facing her past, she bails Toby (Kevin Zegers, Dawn of the Dead) out of jail and they end up on a road trip across the country. Such a premise could feel forced, but the script and performances make it persuasive and natural. Bree wrestles with discomfort and compassion as she learns about Toby's own troubles, even while her own grow worse when she's forced to ask for help from her hostile parents (the superb Fionnula Flanagan, The Others, and Burt Young, Rocky). Transamericadoesn't push for any great catharsis, but instead slowly peels away the layers of Bree's defenses, laying bare her basic struggle for respect and a chance at happiness. In many ways it's a showy role, but Huffman (Desperate Housewives) keeps her acting simple, direct, and thoroughly compelling. --Bret Fetzer

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Director Commentary, Making Of
Year:	2005
Release Date:	July 24, 2006
Runtime:	103 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	P 919301000
Keywords:	Comedy, General, Transamerica
Genre:	Comedy