Stuart Greif Call me fascist or reactionary, but what a disgusting Age we live in. I am particularly disgusted with Naomi watts for her choice of bedmate. I know this is just a movie, but movies about gender freaks just freak me out.

vintagebydesign This movie tackles a difficult subject very appropriate for today, with drama but also mild humor. The network of family this teen is growing in, is a diverse cross section of modern families. And though they are living a more progressive lifestyle, this goes to show how difficult this transition period can be for any family. With ties to a child's birth gender and realizing the changes that come with a decision to honor one's own feelings of who they are, families struggle no matter how open minded they may think they are. Or how imperfect they see themselves. This was done with amazing sensitivity to the fact that families are comprised in many different ways, showing the emotions that come when people choose to love, take risks and work towards supporting one another. This may become a cult film as the world catches up with this very real struggle, and the love that overcomes the fear.

westsideschl Had potential to address the subject of gender identification and its challenges, but just turned out to drag on about dysfunctional family life. Usual matriarchal extended family substituting for divorced mom with a challenging daughter/son. Just droned on (and overacted), in that typical NY writing style, about unhappy households with their endless arguing. That region of the country has an unhealthy fixation with stereotypical rom/coms; drinking parties for singles or wannabe singles; dysfunctional families; hooking up with the emotional attachment of rabbits. Ending was rather hokey, everyone is at peace with each other. How nice! Kudos to Elle Fanning for how she presented her character.

Moviegoer19 After reading other reviews and thinking about the film, I realize just how complex it really is. On first glance the main subject appears to be the character Ray/Ramona played beautifully by Elle Fanning, but it's actually not. The subject or theme I believe is the three generations of women in one family, and the problems/identity issues each one is grappling with. Each character is representative, to an extent, of her own generation. The oldest generation represented by the character played by Susan Sarandon, Dodo, is an artsy, self-confident lesbian who has a life partner but is not married to her, presumably not only because they got together way before marriage was even an option, but because they had a "who needs a marriage certificate" attitude. Sarandon's character is the "man" in the family.Then there's the middle generation, represented by Naomi Watts'character. She also represents her generation, which encompasses some "me generation" qualities, including sleeping with her boyfriend's brother, and having a kind of laid-back almost apathetic personality. She is dominated both by her mother and her child.And then there's Elle Fanning's character, representing a youth of today for whom it's totally natural to believe she was born in the wrong gender and all she needs to do is take meds and have surgery and everything will be set right. S/he also has the very confident, almost arrogant mindset that she's entitled to say anything she thinks or feels to her parents, grandparents, and anyone else who's within earshot.In fact, when Dodo (Sarandon) says to Ray "It's time we have a man in the family" it like she's handing the reins over to him. This is part of the film's happy ending which is nice, if unrealistic. But I liked both the ending and the entire film as it is engaging, has excellent acting, and is visually very downtown New York.