"Transamerica" Transsexual Tale Misses Opportunity to Inform and Educate Viewers

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

Transamerica - 1 Star (Terrible)

There are easier films to review than productions involving alternative life styles, and Transamerica is an example. I purposely saw this film and reviewed it because I am interested in relationship films much more than I am into action flicks, heavy drama, disaster films and science fiction.

Having just reviewed "Boys Don't Cry" I approached Transamerica with some trepidation as Boys Don't Cry involves a runaway transgendered teen with R-rated violence, including sexuality, language, drug usage, an intensely brutal rape scene and murder (kind of the "complete family package" for Hollywood filmmakers).

With a laser beam on sensationalism and the cash register, Hollywood filmmakers would like us to believe that it is impossible to tell a good story with significant meaning without using intensely brutal rape scenes, sexuality, language, drug usage and murder (and sometimes making it seem like cool behavior by some very screwed up people).

Unlike Boys Don't Cry, Transamerica does involve an extended family in the throes of survival and change. Transamerica chronicles a typical American family.

Transamerica is about a pre-operative male-to-female transsexual named Bree who takes an unexpected journey from Los Angeles to New York when she learns that she fathered a son earlier in life. He is now a teenage runaway who is in jail after hustling on the streets of the Big Apple. Did I say that this is a typical American family? Well, not quite.

Bree wants sex change surgery but her psychiatrist will not approve the action until Bree comes to terms with the unknown son Toby. Bree gets custody of Toby but does not disclose her relationship to him. Toby wants to ditch her and hitchhike to Los Angeles; Bree, of course, will drive him there, hence the title Transamerica.

In the course of their cross-country trip, Bree's identity becomes known and both Bree and Toby end up at Bree's parents' home in Los Angeles. Bree's mother is delighted to learn she has a grandson and still angry about Bree's becoming a transsexual.

All of this too-close-to-family comfort is pretty nasty and, of course, this film could not be made without the usual R-rated sexual content, nudity, language and drug use. At least there is no intensely brutal rape scene and murder.

Felicity Huffman is cast in the role of Bree and Kevin Zegers is Toby; the rest are bit players in a difficult presentation. Toby apparently ends up living with his grandparents in their upscale environment, and Bree gets on with her sex change.

Felicity Huffman is an accomplished, award-winning actress who carries this film along despite a somewhat dubious script by Duncan Tucker who also doubles as Transamerica's director. Tucker won two lesser screenplay awards for his writing; apparently this was his first screenplay that made it to the big screen.

I feel Tucker does not use his forum to give a meaningful message about the subject. I ask myself, "Am I a better person for having seen this film?" The short answer is no.

Tucker missed an opportunity to give his viewers more knowledge and understanding about people struggling with transsexualism. Becoming a transsexual strikes me as a mighty tough road to hoe, realizing that you will alienate more people along the way than you could possibly know.

It is one thing to make a comedy or romantic comedy with no other purpose than to entertain viewers, it is quite another to tackle a difficult, controversial subject without assuming some responsibility for making its presentation a positive, productive impact upon viewers. To do less is to consider Hollywood entertaining but useless.

At least Huffman does her part. Huffman, a much more attractive woman than she thinks she is, turns the role of Bree into a Best Actress Oscar nomination, wins the Golden Globe as Best Actress and picks up another 11 lesser Best Actress awards.

Huffman plays Lynette Scavo on ABC's hit drama Desperate Housewives. Huffman also has 4 Golden Globe nominations as Best Actress in a TV Series and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in Desperate Housewives.

She had a really difficult role in Transamerica as a woman playing a man who is seeking a sex change. Perhaps she was clever enough to realize this was her chance at an Oscar, but I doubt it.

Transamerica earned a lot more acclaim than many filmgoers thought it would considering the subject matter and middle America's disdain for any deviation from the norm.

The film generated only $8.7 million at the box office but has since generated another $20 million in video rentals. At its height in week 14, Transamerica was on 656 screens and earned $1.4 million during its best week. The first week of its video rentals Transamerica generated $4.3 million in revenue. Perhaps folks just did not want to be seen publicly at this flick.

Pulling in $28.7 million at this point in time, someone has to be watching Transamerica besides the transgendered and transsexual communities. It is too bad that they will walk away seeing a good performance by Felicity Huffman and be no more informed and educated about transsexualism.

With a better script, I believe Huffman would have walked away with an Oscar for her role.

I gave Transamerica a "terrible" rating because I left the theater no smarter or better informed than when I walked in. Duncan Tucker gets added to my personal list of writer/directors who fall short by taking on too much in moviemaking.

Tucker joins my not-so-exclusive club of fellow writer/directors who have fallen short, including Kimberly Peirce (terrible rating) for Boys Don't Cry, Vanessa Parise (average rating) for Kiss the Bride, Peter Weir (average rating) for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Nancy Myers (average rating) for Something's Gotta Give, Thomas Bezucha (average rating) for The Family Stone, Michael McGowan (average rating) for Saint Ralph, Jared Hess (terrible rating) for Napoleon Dynamite, Robert Rodriguez (terrible rating) for Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and Paul Thomas Anderson (terrible rating) for Punch-Drunk Love.

Is there someone who can actually make a movie more than an entertainment piece without so much of the R factor that will actually enlighten us on transgender and transsexual issues?

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Ed Bagley's Blog Publishes Original Articles with Analysis and Commentary on 5 Subjects: Sports, Movie Reviews, Lessons in Life, Jobs and Careers, and Internet Marketing. My intention is to inform, educate, delight and motivate you the reader. Find my Blog at: www.edbagleyblog.com www.edbagleyblog.com/MovieReviews.html www.edbagleyblog.com/LessonsinLife.html

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