United States of America

DocumentaryComedy

FriendshipRoad tripLgbtTrans womanGender transition

Josh Greenbaum

Will Ferrell, Tim Meadows, Seth Meyers, Kristen Wiig, Colin Jost, Will Forte

NA

Delirio Films, Wayfarer Studios, Gloria Sanchez Productions

NA

When Will Ferrell's good friend Harper comes out as a trans woman, they take a road trip to bond and reintroduce Harper to the country as her true self.

Reviews:

Author: Geronimo1967
Will Ferrell met Andrew Steele whilst both worked on "Saturday Night Live". The latter becomes the chief writer on the popular satirical show that started Ferrell on his road to stardom, and the two men became close personal friends. Advance several years and the now 61 years old Steele has written to his friend informing him of his decision to transition into Harper. This fruition of a visceral need to become the woman he always knew he needed to be to be fulfilled and happy has not come without it's trepidations - not least a wariness as to how close friends and his two children are going to deal with this news. Ferrell is nervous as to how to proceed and suggests the best way to really get to grips with this new situation is to take a road trip to some of the places Steele had gone to as a man, and see how the pair deal with these locations now that he is a very deep voiced woman. What now ensues takes quite an interesting look at attitudes across the USA to a "dude" who is a woman and though he doesn't exactly face outright hostility (the omnipresent camera crew probably insulates them both from any more reactionary responses of the population) there are some raised eyebrows, sneers and maybe leaving a hidden mic in the room after they'd gone might have provided a more honest appraisal of just what the man/woman in the bar actually did think. Some of those opinions are provided by way of the blunt instrument that is social media as the yellow or, indeed, just stupid, took to their platform of pleasure to let loose their sarcastic and phobic rants that they'd never have had the courage to speak to the woman's face. Of course, the whole thing looks staged and the relationship between the two men can be a little cloying as this over-long documentary takes them on their travels away from the relative safety and tolerances (or indifferences) of the urban metropolises and more into the more traditional and religious communities where "freakiness" is a the word of the day. Ferrell is not one of my favourite actors, but he acquits himself genuinely here as the two ask a few potent questions of each other - and of us watching, and though there is a distinct lack of functioning humour throughout, it just about works.