Awards do not make the movie, and clothes do not make the woman. Nevertheless, "Transamerica" surpasses its awards and proves that clothes (and hormones) can make the man a woman, at least until she can get transgender surgery.

Bree (Felicity Huffman, from "Desperate Housewives") is one week away from being a post-operative female when she receives a call from a son she did not know she had fathered 17 years ago. She travels from Los Angeles to New York in order to bail Toby (Kevin Zegers) out of jail, but poses as a Christian missionary. Since Toby makes his living hustling with men on the streets, he has no care for where they travel, and the duo leaves New York with the intent of returning Toby to his stepfather.

A cross-national journey is a formulaic narrative structure for self-discovery, but is also necessary to expose the developing parent/son relationship. Though an independent film, it feels as if there was no budget or time constraints, as no shots were spared of different parts of America and the character development unfolds slowly.

Though the film deals with very serious issues such as drug use, physical abuse and a search for belonging and being comfortable with oneself and the surrounding world, the movie never becomes bogged down with the pervasiveness of these issues. It merely points out some of the contradictions of attempting to label gender dysphoria: "Don't you find it odd that plastic surgery can cure a mental disorder?" Bree quips during the movie.

The film also does not take these issues too lightly, as the characters' deeply rooted pain exposes itself at inconvenient times.

Duncan Tucker, writer and director for his first feature film, views the film as a tongue-in-cheek comedy, as his characters are not typical of comedies. Although, their wisecracks could be placed in a movie of any subject matter. "Beauty is relative," Toby states. "Not my relatives," said Bree.

Toby's allusion and subsequent explanation of "The Lord of the Rings" being a "gay" movie seems to laugh and point at his own journey-filled movie, and is on par with "The Smurfs" reference given in "Donnie Darko."

The film also contains very little romantic love, an angle usually only absent from documentaries and war movies. This is a refreshing surprise, as it illustrates the focus on the characters' personal development.

Because of the gender terminology employed in the film, it seems directed toward an open-minded, already informed audience. The film doesn't set out to make believers out of those who would view Bree as gender "challenged," rather then gender "gifted," as the character views herself. Some expository dialogue exists to explain some of this confusion away, so as not to alienate potential viewers.

The film was released in 2005, but, much like "Brokeback Mountain," the buzz surrounding the movie (and Huffman's superb acting) caused Milwaukee's Landmark Theater chain to pick the movie up after its initial release.

The conviction of Bree's gender decision is questioned from the beginning of the film, and the plot does not leave out any of her damaging psychological imprints. Reinforcing, perhaps, the notion of nothing ever being easy in Bree's life (whether she is stealth or not) and that nothing is as dualistic as it may seem.

Grade: B