Transamerica 2005

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: As Bree, who started her unhappy life as Stanley, the angular Huffman, a fine comedic actress who carried home an Emmy this fall, is a compelling portrait of wounded dignity. She is wholly fascinating and heartbreaking. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Huffman's performance in Transamerica, as a pre-op male-to-female transsexual coping with the sudden emergence of a long-lost son, is much better than the movie it's in; indeed, she singlehandedly takes Transamerica to a higher plane. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: It sometimes suggests a John Waters drag farce trying to go mainstream and sentimental. Read more

Andrew Sarris, New York Observer: Ms. Huffman's greatest acting achievement as Bree is her ultimate unleashing of an intelligence and level-headedness that is truly beyond gender. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Transamerica provides the frame and the occasion for one of the year's best performances, Felicity Huffman's as a woman trapped in a man's body who's passing for female while awaiting a sex-change operation. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: It's got a lot of humanity and a lot of heart. It's smart. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: In Transamerica, Felicity Huffman out-Victor/Victorias Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: An abrupt but unforgettable movie with rough edges that lend it even more resonance. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The key to Huffman's performance ... is the way she plays the role with dignity. She likes this man, and so do we. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Felicity Huffman is such a wonder, at once funny and brave, playing a pre-op male-to-female transsexual in the uneven comedy Transamerica that she sustains several lapses that might otherwise have sunk it. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: Huffman makes it a must-see. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: The result of Huffman's and Zegers' fine performances, and Tucker's excellent work, is one of the most thought-provoking and best films of the year. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The best, and perhaps the only, reason to see Duncan Tucker's Transamerica is for Felicity Huffman's touching, shape-shifting performance as Bree, a transgendered man on the verge of surgery to become a woman. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Felicity Huffman's performance as Bree is striking in much the way Charlize Theron's was in Monster. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: A generally fun movie that offers a different perspective on, well, a different perspective. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: For artistry and degree of technical difficulty, this judge awards Felicity Huffman a 10 for her performance in Transamerica. But as with so many elaborate Olympic sports, this judge asks for clarification: What is the point of the exercise? Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: It's all a little too cute and pat to be believable, and Tucker can't resist showing us everything he has learned about transsexuals in between the embarrassing moments and odd encounters. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: With a tough-minded performance from Felicity Huffman and a script from writer and director Duncan Tucker that keeps its eyes on the road, Transamerica goes in for neither broad laughs nor 'we're all the same' speechifying. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: An awkward yet engrossing first feature from writer-director Duncan Tucker. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: What keeps Huffman's turn from being mere spectacle is the actor's perceptive compassion for her character. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: Before she was a Desperate Housewife, [Felicity] Huffman turned in this tour de force in what turns out to be a funny, charming, heartfelt road movie about a most unlikely pair. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Transamerica is a routine road-trip comedy-drama with a twist. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Huffman's performance redeems parts of the movie but, until the final 30 minutes, Transamerica too often feels like a journey to nowhere. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie works, and it does work, because Felicity Huffman brings great empathy and tact to her performance as Bree. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Transamerica, the feature debut of writer-director Duncan Tucker, never lets us forget that it's a nonmainstream story about a nonmainstream subject, when ideally, it should simply be a story about a person. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: Felicity Huffman's face is what holds you in Duncan Tucker's delightful Transamerica. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's funny in spots, touching in others and uniformly life-affirming. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Transamerica travels miles beyond road-movie cliches, chiefly through Huffman's Oscar-worthy acting, but also through the realization that we are all freaks beneath our masks of gender differences and social conventions. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Jessica Winter, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: [Felicity Huffman's] complex portrayal sometimes doesn't fit the film's broad, sitcom-style humor and thinly drawn supporting characters. Read more

Eddie Cockrell, Variety: Laugh-out-loud funny, tartly off-color and ultimately touching. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Village Voice: Pleasant even without reaching much of a destination. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: If Tucker's road map often feels a little too confining and the screwball comedy too contrived, he can take credit for introducing viewers to a character they have almost certainly never met before. Read more