Transamerica ***|This film is about longing and belonging. No wonder first-time director Duncan Tucker chose to tell the bittersweet saga of Bree, a pre-op transsexual who must deal with her past before gaining her future, as a road movie. Award-winner Felicity Huffman’s performance as Bree is striking in much the way Charlize Theron’s was in “Monster.” Tucker had the good sense to use a tried-and-true form to explore Bree’s emotionally epic drama of wanting to have a body that feels physically in keeping with one’s sense of self. |R|103 minutes|Released today|Lisa Kennedy
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 * 1/2|Perfectly acceptable as schmaltz, this is another movie ode to permissive parenting and rampant babymaking. So if you didn’t get your “the more the merrier” jollies with “Yours, Mine & Ours,” here’s a sequel to the last “Dozen.” But two “Dozen” and “Ours” together don’t have a dozen laughs among them. This is another halfhearted ka-ching family “comedy” about the dozen-kid Baker family of upstate Illinois. Martin reunites with his first “Dozen” and “Bringing Down the House” director, Adam Shankman, and a teeming mass of kids for a Labor Day trip to the old family vacation rental. That’s where Tom (Martin) can renew his rivalry with Jimmy Murtaugh, played by Eugene Levy, and Mom (the ever-game Bonnie Hunt) can face off with the latest Mrs. Murtaugh (Carmen Electra, meeeeooow). Hilarity does not ensue. |PG|120 minutes|Released today|Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Date movie * 1/2|From the makers of “Scary Movie” and “Spy Hard” comes a nonstop spoof on romantic comedies. Don’t expect enlightenment, but it’s fair to expect a good number of crude laughs at the expense of an overworked Alyson Hannigan, who manages to keep it all sweet. And there are plenty of “I can’t believe they did that” moments.|PG-13|70 minutes|Released May 30|Michael Booth
Freedomland ***|In going from page to screen, Richard Price’s 1998 novel “Freedomland” has shifted its weight slightly. Detective Lorenzo Council and mother Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore) are still front and center in Price’s potent adaptation, directed by Joe Roth. Samuel L. Jackson gives one of his fuller performances as the New Jersey cop trying to keep the lid on race relations set aboil by Brenda’s assertion that a black man stole her car with her young son in it. In casting Edie Falco as a missing child activist, the filmmakers push beyond black-and-white and keep the movie from being overstated or dated.|R|113 minutes|Released May 30|Lisa Kennedy
TV ON DVD
That Girl: Season One|Forty years have passed since Marlo Thomas stepped into the starring role of a 1966 TV series that changed her life – and those of countless women her age. The ABC show was the first to feature a young, single female character who wasn’t dedicating her life to wrangling a husband. The Season 1 box includes commentary from Thomas, series co-creator Bill Persky and a rarity that Thomas said has only aired once: the “That Girl” pilot.|$39.98|Released May 16|Louis R. Carlozo, Chicago Tribune
OTHER RELEASES | These DVDs are also available today
Angel Blade
Back Door to Hell
The Bette Davis Collection
The Boondock Saints
Boston Legal Season One
The Bugaloos: The Complete Series
Catherine the Great
The Closer: The Complete First Season
Compulsion
The Culpepper Cattle Company
Decision Before Dawn
The Dirty Dozen Two-Disc Special Edition
The Dog Whisperer With Cesar Millan
The 4400 Season 2
Guns at Batasi
Hamsun
Hard Pill
Harlan County, U.S.A.
High School Musical
Immortal Sergeant
Kingdom of Heaven Director’s Cut
The Last Wagon
London
The Longest Day
M*A*S*H Season 10
Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey
Murder Inc.
100 Rifles
One Last Thing …
Patton
The Proud Ones
The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
The Seven-Ups
These Thousand Hills
Tora! Tora! Tora!
The Vikings
Yellow Sky
This week’s top videos in rentals and sales:
RENTALS
1. The Family Stone
2. Last Holiday
3. Hoodwinked
4. Aeon Flux
5. Fun With Dick and Jane
SALES
1. Hoodwinked (widescreen)
2. Hoodwinked (pan and scan)
3. The Family Stone (widescreen)
4. Last Holiday (pan and scan)
5. The Family Stone (pan and scan)
BILLBOARD ONLINE
