Huffman saves the day
Lead performance rescues forgettable film
Scott Hansen
Issue date: 4/26/07 Section: Scene
The opening act of the film is done extraordinarily well and was definitely headed in the right direction. However, once Bree begins to make the trip to see her son and finally does meet him, the film seems to feel the need to spice itself up rather than let things flow naturally.
The best example of this comes from the motivation for most of the actions that Bree's son Toby takes. The reason for Toby's calling upon his father, it turns out, is so that he can be taken back to California in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a porn star. This leads to pointless sex scenes and drug abusing spectacles that naturally take away from any good qualities the movie has going for it.
For most of the film, Toby does not know that Bree is his father and that Bree is really a man. This makes for some comic relief that would normally work in a movie dedicated to setting straight those who oppose transgender operations, but instead it falls flat against the backdrop of the film's unnecessary sequences of gratuitous sexuality.
In the end, it is disappointing a film such as "Transamerica" works the formula of films like "Brokeback Mountain" and "Passion of the Christ" into itself somewhere along the line. It appears that the filmmakers wanted to make a film that brought the difficult subject matter to the forefront, yet wanted it to be as entertaining as a film like "American Pie."
It ends up failing on more than one level, and becomes neither a "Brokeback Mountain" type film nor an "American Pie" type film. Those movies were memorable because they were not only good, but essentially they did what they set out to do.
It's hard to determine what the main purpose of "Transamerica" is - or was - supposed to be. This alone makes it just another movie, one that simply is just traveling through.
The best example of this comes from the motivation for most of the actions that Bree's son Toby takes. The reason for Toby's calling upon his father, it turns out, is so that he can be taken back to California in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a porn star. This leads to pointless sex scenes and drug abusing spectacles that naturally take away from any good qualities the movie has going for it.
For most of the film, Toby does not know that Bree is his father and that Bree is really a man. This makes for some comic relief that would normally work in a movie dedicated to setting straight those who oppose transgender operations, but instead it falls flat against the backdrop of the film's unnecessary sequences of gratuitous sexuality.
In the end, it is disappointing a film such as "Transamerica" works the formula of films like "Brokeback Mountain" and "Passion of the Christ" into itself somewhere along the line. It appears that the filmmakers wanted to make a film that brought the difficult subject matter to the forefront, yet wanted it to be as entertaining as a film like "American Pie."
It ends up failing on more than one level, and becomes neither a "Brokeback Mountain" type film nor an "American Pie" type film. Those movies were memorable because they were not only good, but essentially they did what they set out to do.
It's hard to determine what the main purpose of "Transamerica" is - or was - supposed to be. This alone makes it just another movie, one that simply is just traveling through.
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