The title of the film Transamerica, directed and written by Duncan Tucker, has two meanings. One is the quest of Stanley Osbourne, who has taken the identity of a very proper Sabrina (played by Felicity Huffman), "Bree" for short, and wants to undergo a gender reassignment operation. The second meaning is a trip from New York to Los Angeles; in other words, Transamerica is an on-the-road picture. Although a change in gender is hardly a laughing matter, the five major and some minor stops along the way provide so much comedy that they upstage the serious theme for most of the film. When the film begins, Bree is a telemarketer and waitress/dishwasher at a New York City café, where she dresses and acts convincingly as a man who is somewhat uncomfortable in women's clothes, quite a contrast with Dustin Hoffman's portrayal in Tootsie (1982). In preparation for the operation, Dr. Spikowsky (played by Danny Burstein) gives her an examination, physical and mental, and approves. Bree then visits her social worker, Margaret (Elizabeth Peña), who is also prepared to sign an approval form. But when Margaret asks if anything new has happened since their last encounter, Bree tells of an unexpected phonecall from someone in jail who claims to be her son. Margaret then refuses to approve the operation, telling Bree that she must first determine who that person is and, if he is indeed her son, she must attend to his needs if he is a minor. Next, Bree goes to the city jail, bails out handsome seventeen-year-old Toby Wilkins (played by Kevin Zegers) for $1 while posing as a church do-gooder, and soon realizes that he is indeed her son, born of a father who skipped town long ago. Margaret then advises Bree to take responsibility for Toby, who is a street hustler sometimes involved in drugs. Accordingly, Bree decides to invite him to join in a cross-country trip to LA, secretly hoping that he can be parked with his father in a small town within Kentucky en route, but enticing Toby to believe that the trip will serve as a way for Toby to realize his ambition to become a film star. Stop #1 is a motel, where Toby strips naked except for a towel over his private parts and lies on a bed, hoping to seduce Bree. However, Bree is not interested. The Kentucky town is Stop #2, where Bree learns that Toby was molested by his father as a child, thereby explaining his career as a male prostitute. After Toby's father slugs him, the duo returns to the road. Stop #3 is in Dallas, where Bree has been promised by someone that there is a place to stay, offered by a person who has previously undergone gender reassignment. Upon arrival a party is in progress, to Bree's chagrin, as she does not want to let the cat out of the bag to Toby about her gender reassignment prospects. Nevertheless, Toby gets on famously with those present, and all goes well. Along the road while driving to New Mexico, however, Toby spies Bree urinating and realizes that his host across the country is biologically male. Later, Bree picks up a hitchhiker (played by Grant Monohon), who drives away with her car and purse containing hormone pills, leaving the duo without funds; Stop #4, in short, is involuntary. After hitchhiking to a café, Toby hustles for some cash, while Bree tells Calvin Manygoats (played by Graham Greene), a Navajo gentleman, of her sad tale. The latter then invites Bree to stay at his home overnight, promising to take the two travelers as far as Phoenix, where he has been hired to deliver two horses. When they part in Phoenix the next day, Calvin gives Bree his New Mexico address; clearly, he is attracted to Bree, who still does not want to blow her cover. Stop #5 is the home in Phoenix of Bree's mother Elizabeth (played by Fionnula Flanagan), father Murray (played by Burt Young), and sister Sidney (played by Carrie Preston). Desperate for cash, Bree sees no alternative but to beg from the family, although the reunion is quite difficult at first. When Bree admits that Toby is her son, the reception becomes more friendly, as Bree's mother fusses over her new-found grandson. Toby, however, wants no part of a bossy grandmother. On learning that Bree almost committed suicide when Bree's mother once threatened institutionalization for mental illness, Toby realizes that what he has heard so humanizes Bree that he realizes that he is in love with Bree. That night he strips in the bedroom and tries to make an advance on Bree, who turns him down; his response is one of anger. Finally, the two arrive in LA and go separate ways. Bree gets the operation but is sad that she no longer has Toby's company, while he quickly discovers that at an acting job in a porn flick is not what he really wanted after all. The problem to be solved at the end is whether and how the two may be reunited. MH
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