It seems somehow incomplete for a blogger to view a film, enjoy it, marvel at the star’s performance, and then not mention it. Yet, I feel at a loss for what to say.
Transamerica, starring Felicity Huffman (Oscar nomination) as Stanley/Sabrina/Bree, is a movie that grows on you while you watch, perhaps because Bree grows on you — as a person, not a type. Days before a final sex change operation, Bree discovers she fathered a now 17-year-old son in New York. The road trip back to Los Angeles follows (of course, on two-lane back country roads — no one in road movies ever takes the interstates) with the boy (Kevin Zegers) assuming, implausibly, that Bree is a do-gooder church lady, and not, of course, his parent, least of all his father. Ultimately, according to the formula, the secret comes out, but by then the movie has us. We realize the film is about people and families and life and not about sexuality at all.
One-time supporting-actor Oscar nominees Graham Greene and Burt Young both succeed in small roles and Fionnula Flanagan is terrific.