Transamerica

"Transamerica" is a perfect example of a departure from the norm- it will leave some people cheering, some more conservative people feeling sick to their stomachs, and others scratching their heads, knowing they certainly saw something effectively made and original, but not exactly sure what to think.

Felicity Huffman of the popular soap "Desperate Housewives" plays a character I have spent much time considering for my review. Calling another person an 'it' is certainly not humane, but what?

'Bree," or Stanley, is Male-to-female transgendered, and halfway though the process of changing one's sex. Although in most ways appearing female (Huffman is,) Bree has a set of male genitals not yet taken care of, which is likely to be disturbing to many viewers. For me, it got some getting used to.

Being transgendered is something many more progressive people try to accept, but is uncomfortable when it is forthright. not necessarily because it is wrong, but because the sexually conventional have a 'not normal' button that bleeps in our brain.

Most people try to treat Bree with respect, but her parents, especially her mom, who practically has a panic attack every time she sees her darling boy on his way to going to the other end of the gender scale.

Bree/Stanley is quietly preparing for the final surgery when she gets phone call from a police department, claiming they're holding a seventeen-year-old kid that she fathered. This comes as quite a shock, being that such a person was thought to have not been born, despite a fling in college.

Bree would like to forget that part of her life and leave the boy, Toby, to solve his own problems, but her therapist insists that she needs to face up to that part of her life. That, or she'll see to it that the all important surgery is not completed till it's done.

After much time preparing for something she's wanted for all her life, she agrees, although she's afraid of her son's reaction to his dad-turned-mom. When she arrives at the police station, she finds out Toby has not fared well in the parent's absence. Simply put, he's a mess.

He abuses drugs, pimps himself out to older guys, and has hardly any life plans other than getting a job in adult entertainment. This disturbs straight-laced Bree, who is actually a religious, moralistic person, and would prefer to get him on the right track.

Although many would be inclined to say that Bree is the reason Toby has become like this, perhaps one can hardly place blame on a person who had no clue about their son's existence. Bree, in following her own driving ambition, inadvertently helped throw another's person's life for a loop.

As far as Toby knows, Bree is a primarily female church member, unrelated to him, and out to save him from his sins. She wants to simply ship him to live with his stepfather, who she hopes can sort him out, and get back to the operation. But things aren't as simple as that, and she finds herself on a road trip with a messed-up teen, and put into a sudden series of situations that challenge the keeping of her secret.

Felicity Huffman does a good job as Bree, and her interactions with delinquent Toby keep this drama afloat. Both characters are interesting, with off-sets Bree's other family, particularly her mom, who seem to have come out of a broad situation comedy.

The problem was, for me, that I didn't expect the crippling ick factor that popped up later in the film. This isn't really "Transamerica"'s fault, it's just that I would have liked to be prepared for some intensely uncomfortable scenes that played out. I've seen worse, It's just that I expected a little less creepy stuff, for instance, the borderline underage boy having sex with an old guy in the back of a van.

"Transmerica" is still a good movie, although it probably won't appeal to many people (chicks with dicks? eew!) The viewer needs to try to be open-minded about the trans angle and prepare themselves for the icky directions the story eventually takes.

Despite some of the over-the-top pleas for tolerance (Bree's conservative mom being a little too much of the intolerant irritating poster child) and the aspects that it never quite brushes itself off in the eyes of the unsuspecting viewer, One is left with a respect for the handling of the characters and a fall from convention (Rated R.)