Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Transamerica

If you've seen Monster, starring Charlize Theron, or Unfaithful, starring Diane Lane, then you've seen Transamerica, starring Felicity Huffman. All three of these movies were only slightly better than average, but with phenomenal performances by their lead actresses. No way would any of these movies win the Best Picture Oscar, but the women are beyond great in each picture. You dig?
More about Transamerica: Felicity's makeup is perfectly awful... or awfully perfect. She does not look like a natural woman, and since that's the point, the makeup artists got it exactly right. In some scenes, she looks completely ridiculous, and I love that! Felicity is a force to be reckoned with. Her voice is different, her face is different, and even though at times she pulled out a couple staple Felicity hand mannerisms (watch a couple episodes of DH and look for her to wave her hands dismissively in front of her face), they worked for the character of Bree. There is one emotional scene that just ripped my heart out, then she transitioned right into a nude scene, and the few masculine things that she does are hilarious. Yowza. She did it all. Even though I still think Reese Witherspoon is going to win the Oscar, I want Felicity to win. Okay, so the movie was formulaic and trite, with some very typical road-trip, "I'm looking for my father", bizarre extended family story arcs, but Felicity kept it real. Well, as real as a woman playing a transgendered man can get.

Transamerica: movie as a whole - B; Felicity - A+

12 comments:

Chargenda said...

oh my god. you want her to win. I don't care how great she is. Reese is a dream goddess in Walk the Line...how can you turn on Reese?!

amanda said...

I haven't seen it, fool! Wait till you see Transamerica, you might change your mind, too.

TSL said...

No, Chargey's right. And you know about my history with Felicity. Reese is homemade donuts in Walk the Line. Go see!

Anonymous said...

Right on the money about "Transamerica" in general and Felicity in particular, Amanda. And she should and will win. Homemade donuts...whatever, Tim.

amanda said...

Pat, do you really think Flick will win? Reese has won EVERYTHING, but her steam might be running out. Who can say?

Anonymous said...

Well, Flicka DID win the Golden Globe, though so did Witherspoon. I think all the momentum is with our girl, though.

Anonymous said...

I'm rooting for Reese as well!

Chargenda said...

Pat - Reese is one of the only sure things during the Oscars. I promise you that she will be winning.

Anonymous said...

Wait a second now-- Oscar loves ugly! See Charlize. See Nicole Kidman. See Halle. Which is more compelling: a cute girl being cute? Or a cute girl being ugly? Serious about this one. Retards, serious children, accents and ugly people... They are hard for Oscar to ignore.

Dustin Harder said...

I WANNA SEE THIS!!! GRRRR!

equippedtofascinate said...

Manders, I saw Walk the Line, but haven't seen Transamerica. Let me just say, I thought Reese was great in Walk the Line, but not good enough for all the buzz around her. I hope Felicity wins.

Casey said...

I haven't seen it either, but I really want to see it. I heard it was good.