{"id":8920,"date":"2018-07-25T16:13:49","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T20:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=8920"},"modified":"2026-07-07T09:50:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:50:30","slug":"transamerica-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=8920","title":{"rendered":"Transamerica-2005"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transamerica-2005<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Duncan Tucker<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Felicity Huffman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #795<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed July 25, 2018<\/p>\n

Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Transamerica (2005) is a brave and topical independent drama effort. By 2005, the LGBT genre was in full force with a multitude of similarly themed films gracing silver screens everywhere.<\/p>\n

One prominent mainstream production (Brokeback Mountain, 2005) was in theaters everywhere.<\/p>\n

So, in a year celebrating diversity, how wonderful and touching it is to witness a film focused on a transgender woman come into play.<\/p>\n

Mixing drama with some much-needed humor, the film succeeds in large part because it does not take itself too seriously and never becomes too preachy; it merely tells a story.<\/p>\n

The film’s brilliant casting of Felicity Huffman as a pre-op male-to-female transsexual is a success, as the decision to cast a woman rather than a man in this important role pays off in spades.<\/p>\n

The premise allows for a story of both adventure and humor as the film mixes an important issue.<\/p>\n

A transgender woman, Bree (Huffman), decides to go on a road trip with her long-lost son, Toby (Kevin Zegers).<\/p>\n

The intrigue is that Toby is unaware that Bree is both transgender and<\/strong> <\/em>his father, the fun coming from the relationship between the two.<\/p>\n

Adding to the setup, a week before Bree’s scheduled operation, she has no idea who Toby is.<\/p>\n

Encouraged by her therapist, Bree decides to throw caution to the wind and travel to pick up her son; however, she does not realize that Bree (being transgender) is his birth father.<\/p>\n

Talk about complicated material!<\/p>\n

I love the overall message of the film; its theme is self-discovery and a personal journey toward happiness. These qualities do not only apply to Bree but also to Toby.<\/p>\n

Being a teenage boy, abused and neglected, he has his share of issues, which the film does not skirt over.<\/p>\n

The areas of male prostitution and gay porn are featured, and the film does its best not to shy away from these sensitive matters.<\/p>\n

Therefore, even though the film’s tone is light and more of a coming-of-age story, there are underlying painful emotions the characters experience.<\/p>\n

This makes their bonding easier and more fulfilling.<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, the film belongs to Huffman, who was honored with a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Best Actress. No offense to that year’s winner (Reese Witherspoon) for Walk the Line (2005), but the rightful owner of the statuette should be Huffman.<\/p>\n

The actress simply comes out of nowhere and slays this role. Known for playing a different type of role on ABC’s hit television series Desperate Housewives, Bree is in a different league entirely.<\/p>\n

Huffman possesses strength, vulnerability, and sarcasm, while physically undertaking a transformation that makes her both feminine and masculine, without becoming a “joke.”<\/p>\n

All of this she pours into the character.<\/p>\n

Transamerica (2005) is an unconventional film that, on the surface, feels mainstream, like many other road trip films made over the years.<\/p>\n

With a twist and thus a breath of fresh air considering the importance and relevance of the time-released, the film should be championed.<\/p>\n

When combined with Huffman’s tremendous performance, the film is a heavyweight and should be viewed and celebrated for its influence.<\/p>\n

Oscar Nominations:\u00a0<\/strong>Best Actress-Felicity Huffman, Best Original Song-“Travelin’ Thru”<\/p>\n

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 2 wins-<\/strong>Best Female Lead-Felicity Huffman (won)<\/strong>, Best First Screenplay (won)<\/strong>, Best First Feature<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transamerica-2005 Director Duncan Tucker Starring Felicity Huffman Scott’s Review #795 Reviewed July 25, 2018 Grade: A Transamerica (2005) is a brave and topical independent drama effort. By 2005, the LGBT genre was in full force with a multitude of similarly themed films gracing silver screens everywhere. One prominent mainstream production (Brokeback Mountain, 2005) was in … Continue reading Transamerica-2005<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[298,49,192,41,215,211,339,122],"tags":[1144,11999,11996,11102,2083,11998,1683,11997],"class_list":["post-8920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2005-movie-reviews","category-comedies","category-dramas","category-indiefilms","category-indie-comedies","category-indie-dramas","category-lgbt-dramas","category-gay-films","tag-burt-young","tag-carrie-preston","tag-duncan-tucker","tag-elizabeth-pena","tag-felicity-huffman","tag-fionnula-flanagan","tag-graham-greene","tag-kevin-zegers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8920"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23742,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8920\/revisions\/23742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}