A week before undergoing sexual reassignment surgery (ie manhood removal) in LA, smart but shy Bree (Huffman) is stunned by a phone call asking for Stanley. Stanley’s son is in a New York jail. Stanley is - or rather, was - Bree.
Unless Bree bails out his son, his therapist won't approve the operation. So after a costly flight he is introduced to Toby (the excellent Zegers), a shabby teenage hustler with aspirations of becoming a porn star.
Bree is happy to go along with Toby's assumption that he is some sort of Christian do-gooder. And since the boy's mother is dead and he's determined to break bail and head west, Bree decides to reunite Toby with his stepdad.
It turns out to be the first misstep on their illuminating road trip across America. With a wall of lies between them, bonding won't be easy and revelations are inevitable.
But there are plenty of surprises from the people they come across too: a hippy traveller, a kindly half-Navajo, a transsexual support group ("We walk among you..."), and Bree's family.
Bree needs their money but demands that they keep her identity from Toby, particularly her overbearing mother (Fionnula Flanagan). But how can mommy-dearest do that when she has a grandson?!
"Beauty is relative," muses Toby after a cringe-inducing evening with Bree's folks. "Not my relatives," sighs Bree.
What a joy this is.
Unlike most comedic movies built around homosexual, transsexual or transvestite characters, Transamerica has a genuineness and a wonderfully dry sense of humour that targets campness rather than relying on it.
Had Bree been played by a man, the temptation to camp it up may have been greater. But it's hard to imagine anyone capturing her awkward dignity and controlled wit half as convincingly as fearless Felicity.
Writer/director Tucker deserves further credit for working in enough dark and/or uncomfortable moments to remind viewers that it's not supposed to be just a barrel of laughs.
This is a movie about truth and acceptance which refuses to preach or provide neat and schmaltzy resolutions and certainly doesn't conform to any Hollywood stereotypes.
Which all goes to show that Transamerica has a big heart... and real balls.
Elliott Noble
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