I went to see Transamerica with Felicity Huffman this weekend. (We had a great time; I think we're going to see each other again. Heh.) I've heard nothing but raves, basically, about Huffman's performance, and about the film's intentions, which I agree are noble.

But I gotta say, I thought the film was pretty bad. Gender dysphoria is a serious condition, and those who suffer from it do certainly struggle with some of the things Huffman's character endures. But the movie was so deeply conventional and formulaic, and so uninventively filmed and conceived, it was hard to believe the subject matter was in the least controversial.

The conventional aspects are both entirely expected and wholly unrealistic. The way that Huffman gets set up with her young street-hustler son, a blank slate whose pearls of wisdom include explaining how Lord of the Rings is gay, makes little sense. From that point on, it's a road-movie paint-by-numbers, including appearances put in by our favorite types: the noble Native American and the warm black lady. The hillbilly stepfather is a stupid personification of the trauma of physical and sexual abuse. And the dysfunctional family in Phoenix is over-the-top with drama and hysteria, which is a shame because it offers the character actor Burt Young nothing to do except shrug his shoulders. There are a couple moments of ridiculous Jewish/Yiddish invocation from a blond pixie who probably spent her education saying the catechism, and there's the obligatory dog-acting-funny/cute shot that everyone has to react to.

If it weren't for the fact that Huffman plays a transgendered woman, and her kid's sexuality is ambiguous, the movie would be by-the-books after-school-special material.

I read that director Duncan Tucker was inspired to make the film after learning that his Hollywood roommate, actress Katherine Connella (pictured here), was born as a boy. He was fascinated—but not enough so to cast her (or someone like her) in the film, apparently. Instead, we have a woman playing the part, and what's subversive about that? If you really want to take risks and show people the reality of the transgendered experience, have the balls to cast a transgendered person in the role. Instead, we have to endure articles in the press about how Huffman transformed herself into a man and bugged hubbie William H. Macy by talking like her character all the time. Ooh, so Method.

Surely one of the reasons she got a Golden Globe is because there's a scene in which she drools. "Look how brave she is," say film fans. "She's not afraid to drool on camera!" It's the Charlize-Theron-in-Monster syndrome all over again.

Obviously, the film has a positive message, though it's hard to take it seriously. The one scene that could have been meaningful—a social gathering of transgendered folk—turns into a weird hoedown, which I didn't get. Why the singing and music when we could have had substantive dialogue? Oh well.

I'd love to hear what transgendered people think of this movie. I looked on a few message boards, and saw mixed reviews. But maybe I'm not understanding how powerful it is to get this message out there, to normalize the experience and expose people to the struggle.

Am I being too critical?

[Photo of Katherine Connella taken by Lynnell Stephani Long]