Simply A Masterpiece

Absolutely Fantastic

A Masterpiece!

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

If you want some left wing hate propaganda this is the right film for you.Originally titled 'Eddy and The Heartbreakers' this is pretty much exactly what it claims to be, the true story of a transvestite boy Eddy who was murdered after three guys he gave oral sex to at a party discovered he was male. What a crying shame? 'The Crying Game' did a far more entertaining job of handling this same premise.Not surprisingly this stars Mercedes Ruehl who's also starred in other ultra left wing agenda films such as 'Mary Kay Letourneau' which attempted to justify molesting 6th graders.Mercedes son Eddy is constantly getting into fights at school for wearing makeup. In fact all her kids seem delinquents. Clearly she is one of these 21st century "cool moms" who whines, "I can't get my kids to do what I tell them." This is because she doesn't understand that she's not their landlady or their best friend, she's more important, she's their MOTHER. Parents do not ask, "Do you want to go to school?" Loving parents say, "You're going to school."Mercedes at first resists her son's cross dressing but then relents. Great work. Just give up on your children. She also breaks the (not so) shocking news to Eddy's boyfriend that she's a he, because she doesn't want her son to get beaten up. An understandable concern, yet this one responsible act is portrayed negatively.The film is sure to pump in plenty of Hollywood scripted psycho babble about all the unborn being inherently female but some male brains don't develop properly. And that transvestites have no responsibility no tell their boyfriends or girlfriends their true sex. WTF ever! Waiting until your wedding night to let your spouse know if you have indoor or outdoor plumbing is a BAD idea! Eddy eventually starts passing as a girl. I have no idea what the real Eddy looked like but this actor was poorly cast as he cannot possibly pass for female. At least Linda Hunt was convincing as a man in 'The Year of Living Dangerously.' Even Bob Hope in 'Some Like It Hot' was more convincing as the opposite sex.Eddy is such a slut he has oral sex with three guys at a party whom beat him to death upon learning his gender.Let this be a lesson to all, always check under the hood before going for a test drive.True to all left wing propaganda all Christians are portrayed as book burning goose steppers who protest Eddy's funeral reminiscent of Bruno Gantz's performance in 'Downfall.' This just proves who the real bigots are. The "tolerant" are in fact intolerant of those they disagree with.The film's propaganda status is confirmed by the closing statements that Eddy's killers were convicted of murder but not hate crimes.We already have laws against murder, assault, threats, and harassment. The left want an even Bigger Brother simply to govern speech crimes. These would make it a crime to even state that certain acts are sinful. Isn't that the very purpose of ANY religion, to warn us against sin? Speech crime laws like those in Europe even make it illegal to make to Roman solute. So watch out 1960s historic epics.

I saw Gwen's story on Lifetime, and I was moved beyond words. I am not a trans gendered teen myself, however I hurt the way they do, only from hearing the horror stories, and seeing the pain. Honestly I cried like a baby during and after this movie, just because I saw how painful it can be to live as a trans gendered teen. As a 3rd party I don't know the whole story, however I do know that I am a proud trans gendered supporter, and I will continue to feel like a friend of Gwen in some ways. I would have loved to meet her, and in watching this movie I felt like we would have been friends, good friends! Congratualations to the family of Gwen, you should be very proud!

6 stars out of 10 This film, based on a true story, tries hard, and it IS well told, but it is definitely NOT the best vehicle to carry the message of tolerance and acceptance.I have friends who are transsexuals, so I do know people who have dealt with this problem in their lives. None of them, however, ever tried to deceive others in regards to themselves. Also, all of them eventually had sex reassignment surgery - something that was never even mentioned in this film. Nor was hormone treatment even mentioned.So while I definitely have strong sympathy for transsexual people, Eddie's deceitfulness is not going to "win friends and influence people", as the old cliché goes.Of course it is horribly wrong to mistreat someone simply because they are somewhat different from the mainstream group, and it certainly is past time that kind of thinking ended.Nonetheless, there are also the realities of life, and Eddie/Gwen absolutely and totally refused to accept that. With Eddie/Gwen, it was "my way or the highway." This led him to a great deal of unnecessary suffering. A transsexual person can suffer enough without adding to their own woes.The mother does come to accept Eddie as Gwen, but makes the huge mistake of turning her back on a therapist who could have offered a great deal of help to both herself and Eddie/Gwen.How much more beneficial a film on this subject COULD have been if it had revolved around a character who was honest about himself---and tried to fit in, but was still discriminated against--now THAT kind of film could have possibly opened a few minds. As it is, many people who see this film aren't going to bother to look beyond Eddie's misrepresentation of himself to others.

One of the problems inherent in (some, not all) cable TV movies is that they look like they were cut and pasted in a hurry and bring no real transition from scene to scene. Lifetime channel is no HBO. Because of this, their undertaking of the tragic yet necessary story of Gwen Araujo has to remain as "an honest project" but no more -- one that has to be seen, if at all to raise some awareness within the population of what it is like to be a transgendered person living in a society that attacks being different from all angles. Kudos to J.D. Pardo for bringing an intense depth to his characterization of Gwen. His evolution from male to female is a little choppy, but this is a problem of bad editing, not his interpretation. While not looking like the real Gwen, he channels the anguish, the innocence, the femininity, and the sometimes self-destructive behavior that became the driving forces in the short life of this remarkable person. Mercedes Ruehl has moments of quiet power, most notably in the court scene as she challenges the prosecutor, but also when she decides to accept her son for the daughter she is in the scene when she tells Eddie/Gwen that her make up is running. If only Agnieszka Holland had had a stronger vision and grasp of the story -- she collaborated in the striking visual stories of the THREE COLORS TRILOGY -- this would have made for a compelling watch. As it is, A GIRL LIKE ME doesn't escape the media for which it was created. It looks and feels like an ABC movie of the week, and it deserves better. Even so, it's a must for people sensitive to these issues.