Hey folks, Harry here with our man, MiraJeff reviewing like the man-god he is. This time he's taking in The Weinstein Company's TRANSAMERICA and THE KID AND I. TRANSAMERICA is supposed to be one of the better films of the year. Let's see what MiraJeff thought...
Greetings AICN, MiraJeff here with reviews of The Kid and I and Transamerica, a film I missed last spring at the Tribeca Film Festival and now might be the Weinstein Company's best chance at an Oscar nomination. I’ll start with the latter. Where to begin with this one? Written and directed by newcomer Duncan Tucker, Transamerica is the story of Bree (Felicity Huffman), a pre-op transsexual woman who discovers she is the father of a rebellious 18 year-old kid, just weeks before her surgery to complete her sexual 'Bree-assignment.' Out of parental responsibility, she flies to New York to bail her 18 year-old drug addict/hustler son, Toby (Kevin Zegers), out of jail, where he's landed for solicitation. With her conservative dress and heavy makeup, Toby figures her for a Church missionary. And so the big secret of the film is that Bree is Toby’s father. She doesn’t want him to find out, because Toby thinks his father is a hotshot in California. She’s also planning to drop him off back at home with the stepfather he ran away from.
At its core, Transamerica is a whole new take on the father-son story, and despite following the road trip movie road map, is a potent picture sure to strike audiences in very different ways. For instance, my girlfriend couldn’t stand the film and didn’t find Felicity Huffman’s performance believable. I think, for a woman acting like a man who’s trying to act like a woman, Huffman gives a daring, courageous performance. The film is very up front with its taboo subject matter, and any preconceptions people may have about transsexuals are quickly put to rest. Huffman does a good job of making the audience immediately like her and care about her. I think we all, at some point, have felt uncomfortable in our own skin, or conscious of how we look to other people.
Transamerica deals with some pretty heavy themes, particularly those involving self-image, and tolerance and acceptance of the LGBT community. With the social stigma attached to transsexuality, the film confirms that the lifestyle can be treated as a mental illness. There’s even a proper term for it; Gender dysphoric genetic disorder. But
Bree isn’t crazy. Sure she has problems, but despite being known as Stanley before, she has always considered herself a woman, ever since she was a little boy. Bree even says, “My penis disgusts me and my friends don’t like it either.” And later, transsexuality is called “a radically evolved state of being” by one character. Another calls transsexuals, “a two-spirit people.”
Throughout the film, Bree worries about a variety of different things, in addition to keeping her real identity secret from Toby. Having been through ten years of college without earning a degree, she’s worried she can’t stick to a decision. All she wants her family to look at her and see her. When Bree finally breaks down from the emotional stress that’s taken its toll over the course of her road-trip, Huffman really loses it, crying and drooling all over herself. In some ways, she’s the anti-Mrs. Doubtfire. If Huffman sounds like a cross between Kathleen Turner and Tea Leoni, then Zegers looks like a cross between Skeet Ulrich and Aaron Stanford. Both actors make impressions, and Huffman could emerge as a potential Best Actress nominee, though the small independent film may have trouble attracting viewers with its uncomfortable subject matter. The film’s colorful supporting cast includes Graham Greene as a wise, old cowboy who shows interest in Bree, attracted to her mysterious beauty, which is always relative in the eye of the beholder. Fionnula Flanagan is also strong as Bree’s unforgiving mother, who loves playing grandmother to her new blood.
Tucker proves himself to be a competent filmmaker. The film is shot with a soft color palette, ripe with pastels and his screenplay deftly handles character development and some ambitious, mature themes. However, the story falters a bit towards the end, which is ambiguous and a bit unsatisfying, as father and son sit down over a beer and finally talk man to well, man. The theme of Transamerica may be to preach acceptance, but whether it will be at accepted at the box office or as an award-winner is another question. Transamerica proves that everyone has a past and no one can escape theirs. Ultimately, its message gets a bit muddled, but the film soars on the wings of Huffman, who is in top-form here, and makes you completely forget about her weekly gig on Desperate Housewives. With so few exceptional performances from actresses this year (shame on the Academy if Gwyneth Paltrow gets nominated), Huffman could find herself this year’s Hilary Swank.
THE KID AND I
The Kid and I is a pleasant surprise of a movie. To be honest, expectations weren’t really too high heading into this one. The story follows Bill Williams (Tom Arnold) and Aaron Roman (Eric Gores, a young actor with cerebral palsy), as they set out to film an action/comedy/buddy picture in the vein of the kid’s favorite movie, True Lies. Tongue-in-cheekily directed by Penelope Spheeris (Wayne’s World… Party Time… Excellent!), The Kid and I is, as narrated by Bill, “based on a sort of true story.” This disclaimer is certainly warranted, since the project and the film within the film are written by Tom who reached the height of his own fame when he co-starred alongside the other Arnold in True Lies. Art further imitates life since the film was produced by Gores’ father, and the film within The Kid and I is being financed by Mr. Roman (Joe Mantegna), as a present for Aaron’s 18th birthday. The chief difference is that Bill Williams is an unemployed actor, and Tom Arnold, judging from this film and his impressive work in this summer’s Happy Endings, is not. Here’s to him finding more roles that can support his talents, something like Kevin James in Hitch, perhaps? He’s certainly redeemed himself by now for years of being married to Roseanne and running his mouth on the Best Damn Sports Show.
The Kid and I begins on a surprisingly dark note, with Bill preparing to commit suicide after months of planning his own death. The morning of, he takes out the trash, gives his belongings to a drunken bum (Richard Edson), and carefully grooms himself before laying down a tarp in the bathtub so he can slit his wrists without leaving a mess for someone to worry about. Bill is prepared to die with his biggest hope being that he can somehow sneak into the dead people montage at the Oscars, while his biggest fear is that when he’s dead, a med student will laugh at his penis. Since the apex of his career 11 years ago, his life has been a downward spiral and he’s since become a punch line. Which is why it’s funny when Bill can’t even kill himself correctly, passing out from the combination of booze and pills he ingested before he got in the bathtub. When he’s awoken days later by his agent Johnny Bernstein (Henry Winkler, doing the same sleaze ball shtick he perfected on Arrested Development), his pre-purchased tombstone has been rendered useless, but at least he’s been given a new lease on life. During his unconsciousness, he’s been offered a job worth half a million dollars to write and direct an action vehicle for the teenage son of a millionaire. When Bill finally meets Aaron and realizes he has special needs, the look on his face is priceless. He even thinks he’s being Punk’d. But once Bill gets past his pre-conceived notions of how to interact with someone who has cerebral palsy, he takes a liking to Aaron and their business-related partnership becomes a meaningful friendship.
After sorting out some getting-to-know-you stuff, “The Kid and I” brainstorm ideas for the script together, hang out and check out girls together, etc. The one thing that’s missing so far from Aaron’s normal childhood experience has been relations with the opposite sex, so the film spends a significant amount of time trying to satisfy both characters’ love lives. Eventually, once the movie-within-a-movie cameras start rolling, the unconventional duo don matching jumpsuits, help the homeless, rescue animals, parachute out of a jet, leap off rooftops onto unsuspecting bad people like drug dealers, and spout ultra-cheesy dialogue like characters out of a pulp comic. But there’s no argument when it comes to who gets the girl. Just for good measure, Aaron chooses the blonde and the brunette. Naturally, the film climaxes with an over-hyped kissing scene that works in contrast of the film’s moral center, and even tosses in a love interest for Bill with Aaron’s over-bearing mother in an unnecessary subplot that goes nowhere.
The Kid and I is a movie that proudly wears its heart on its sleeve. How else to explain cameos from all-around-lovable guys Goldberg and Shaquille O’Neal and everyone’s favorite governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who pops up at the end with Jamie Lee Curtis in an awkward scene that is Arnold’s first since his embarrassing turn in Around the World in 80 Days. True Lies director James Cameron’s ex-wife, Linda Hamilton, stars as the Hollywood producer with a heart of gold, and Shannon Elizabeth co-stars as Aaron’s doting stepmother. Even director Spheeris steps in front of the camera, all in the name of good fun. The best supporting work comes from Edson (Strange Days), who grabs the biggest laughs as a homeless man turned drunken, bumbling assistant. Still, the two leads are an inspired-enough comic duo to hold our attention.
Tom Arnold is like a breath of fresh air in this movie. He just seems to be having a great time. At first, Bill acts like some kind of selfish lampoon of Arnold. Arnold gives a brave performance as Bill, showcasing the character’s good and bad sides. For instance, when Bill finds out his “comeback” movie won’t be released in theaters, and is only being produced to show at Aaron’s birthday party, he nearly throws a tantrum. And earlier, when he’s handed the $500,000 check from Mr. Roman, Bill looks him in the eye and tells him he believes in Aaron, which at the time is a lie. By the end, in true Disney form, Bill realizes he he’s doing a good thing for a worthwhile cause, and he doesn’t need public recognition to justify it. He probably needs Aaron more than the kid needs him. The project originated from Arnold’s brief interactions with Gores, who before the film was his lovable next-door-neighbor. In deed,
Arnold’s heart must’ve been in the right place when he agreed to write such a self-deprecating role for himself. His script borders on schmaltz, but it’s genuinely funny and heartwarming, never talking down to Gores, and able to find the right moments to interject its message. When Aaron wishes he could be on the basketball team, but settles for being the equipment manager, Bill tells him what an important job it is. But Aaron doesn’t want Bill to patronize him. He doesn’t want his sympathy or pity, he just wants a friend. Much like Mark Zupan, the inspiring and charismatic star of Murderball, Gores proves he can hold his own onscreen, in the process becoming the unlikeliest of movie stars. How can you not smile when Gores awkwardly runs into every scene, charged up like he’s ready to take the ball on the last play of a big game. And of course, in the end, Bill learns that friendship is more valuable than money, and we fade out to a sentimental credit sequence that features baby photos of the cast. Most touching, of course, are those of Gores and his goofy but lovable grin. He lived the dream and can say he made it onto the big screen. Which is more than I can say. The Kid and I ain’t a classic, but if you know what you’re getting into, it’ll show you a good time.
That’ll do it for this weekend. I’ll be back next week with a look at Adam Goldberg’s I Love Your Work, maybe a sneak at Narnia, and a surprise or two from the NYC premiere of King Kong. Also, keep an eye out for reviews of the Weinstein Company’s Christmas releases, The Matador, Hoodwinked, and Wolf Creek. ‘Til then folks, this MiraJeff signing off, and telling you to get cracking on those holiday wish lists.
MiraJeff
