Review of Transamerica (2005) by Chriss M — 06 Mar 2010

Transamerica is a brilliant movie. It must have been one of my Russian Roulette days that I saw this movie on, because it's not a film that would strike me as something I would want to see. You know, one of those days you skip college/school/university, go to the cinema and pick something at random to go see. No? Just me? Never mind then. So, anyway, the movie starts and I really don't know what to expect. Just trying to kill time, really, and then there's Felicity Huffman on screen, adjusting herself and performing vocal exercises. Straight away, I was amused and entertained. As someone that has no interest in transsexuality, I did begin to fear as the film went on that my enjoyment would fade and the film would become dull. It didn't. The whole film was just so funny and well acted.

My fears were swiftly wiped aside as the story progressed and the colourful characters were introduced. The acting from everyone is great. Even the supporting cast shone. If I had to choose one outstanding performance, however, it would of course be Felicity Huffman. She was completely convincing as a male-to-female transexual. Who knew she could act?! Zegers is great here as well, but he's well within his comfort zone of 'the troubled teen'.

The script never fails to impress, darting from laugh-out-loud funny to earnestly sentimental. I mean the writers sure deserve props here. It's not easy to endear a male-to-female transexual and her rent boy son to a mainstream audience, but it's done successfully here.

Visually, the film's nothing spectacular, but this film is all about the script and the performances. I would genuinely recommend this movie to anyone. I'd say the one thing that makes this movie quite so successful, other than the humour, is the frank potrayal of the parent-son relationship. At no point did it feel at all cliché, and that's very important to me.