Transamerica (Widescreen Edition) [DVD]

In the last chapter of "The World According to Garp," John Irving tells us what happens to all of the characters who survive the death of the title character. One of these is Roberta Muldoon, a transsexual who was once a tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles. After Roberta's death there is a moment of silence before the team's next came and one of the announcers says that Roberta "didda lot for people wid complicated lives." But in the world of transsexuals, Roberta Muldoon has nothing on Bree Osbourne (Felicity Huffman), who is one week away from her surgery when "Transamerica" begins.

Bree is short for Sabrina, which is the name that Stanley has chosen. The only problem is that she suddenly gets a phone call and learns that 17 years ago during the one sexual encounter that probably confirmed she was in the wrong body, she fathered a son, Toby (Kevin Zegers), who is in jail. This bolt from the blue is upsetting enough, but her therapist (Elizabeth Pena) insists that Bree must meet the son and come to terms with the situation before the surgery can be allowed. So Bree travels from Los Angeles to New York to get Toby out of jail. She can hardly tell the boy that she is his father, so she says instead that she has been sent from a Christian group to save his soul. Toby needs saving because unsatisfied with being a street hustler his ambition is now to become a porn star. Consequently, a car ride to Los Angeles sounds like a great idea to him. Of course ride gives Bree and Toby a chance to find out about each other before the truth of their relationship is revealed.

If there is anything that anybody knows about "Transamerica" it is Huffman's Oscar nominated performance, and while it is impossible to quantify how many Academy voters actually saw the film or how many think of her as either being "just" a television actress or the role as being similar to what recent Oscar winners in the Best Actress category have done, it is hard not to feel that those were part of the equation that would explain why she did not win. It might take you a couple of viewings to really appreciate what she is doing here in playing a man trying to be a woman, because a lot of it is subtle work. But it is a captivating performance and Huffman is helped by the script that director Duncan Tucker ("The Mountain King") has written, which makes it clear that Bree does not just want to be a woman, she wants to be a lady. That sensibility is key in her interactions with Toby as is how the situation confronts her with a third option, namely being a mother, even if the great irony here is that she is his father.

"Transamerica" has its comic moments, most notably when Bree and Toby end up at her parent's house, where her father, Murray (Burt Young) says they still love their son, but her mother, Elizabeth (Fionnula Flanagan) quickly adds that they do not respect him. But the key encounter for Bree comes at the low point in the journey, when getting back to Los Angeles in time for her operation seems like it is not going to happen, and she meets Calvin (Graham Greene). The easy way of describing what happens is that Calvin hits on Bree. But what is important is that he acts like a gentleman, which means he treats her like a lady. I think this is a pivotal moment because if she can be a lady, then everything else is within her reach as well.