Transamerica ***1/2

Transamerica is a film with an interesting, if not fully realized story with an amazing performance by Felicity Huffman. Don’t get me wrong, Reese Witherspoon is great and all, but when you see Transamerica all you’ll be thinking is how Felicity Huffman was robbed of the Oscar. Robbed. The film is an amazing character study, a family drama, and a coming of age story, all at once.

The film begins by introducing us to Huffman’s Bree, a male transsexual preparing for his sex change surgery. Bree is an odd mix of the church lady and your local Mary Kay agent, and somehow Huffman manages to make this all normal while still giving you glimpses Bree’s struggles with her own insecurities. You’re immediately drawn into this character’s life.

Before Bree can go through with her surgery she finds out that she may have fathered a son and her therapist refuses to sing the psychological evaluation for the surgery until she meets him. Bree’s supposed son, Toby (Kevin Zegers), is a stereotypical troubled youth with all of the baggage and issues typical of a character from Boogie Nights. One of the more interesting dynamics of the relationship between Bree and Toby is that Bree never passes judgment on Toby, but merely tries to help him. And although Bree starts this journey with her own interests influencing her benevolence, that quickly changes as this quirky duo begin to bond.

On the road from New York back to LA they run into some trouble and end up having to ask Bree’s parents for help. This sets up some interesting climactic and humorous moments as they struggle to find acceptance in this dysfunctional family. In the end, none of the characters become who they thought they would at the beginning of the journey.

Some of the plot points in the story were overly contrived and you could see them a mile away. Especially troubling were some of the more stereotypical aspects of Toby – the stripper with a heart of gold archetype. Although, Kevin Zegers still managed to make Toby a convincing character, you’re still don’t really like him that much. The reason this movie works at all is because Huffman mesmerizes you. Watching the film, you forget that this is actually a beautiful woman and not a man struggling to pass as a woman. She also managed to bypass all the stereotypes and give you a glimpse into the mind of this complex person trying to escape from them self – in order to find them self.