Liked the movie. A little long. Had some cute funny moments. Good acting. Happy I rented the movie.

Even though the main point of the entire movie was focused on Ray's mother, who was struggling with getting Ray's dad consent for Ray to finally start his transition into a boy, i think the movie could have been a lot better if we actually had the chance to see the actual transition, or at least part of it. Was I the only one waiting to see her starting on T and completely changing her life??. The acting and production of the movie wasn't actually bad, I just think there could have been a lot more story than a mother who wants to get some papers singed for a transformation that we never actually get to see. Excuse me if I am missing the whole point of the movie, I KNOW, there's a lot of things behind whole story line, for example, acceptance, family issues, secrets from the past, personal struggles in the characters, I GET IT. But how exciting would it be to actually get to witness Ray's transformation?. This movie just left me with a lot of question. How will testosterone going to change him? Did he gets the girl at the end? Will he be happy after his transition? Will Ray's mother end up with her former lover? I guess we will never know, because the movie actually ends up when Ray gets the green light to start the treatment. Which is such a cliffhanger, not fair. Don't judge me, but i actually think this could have carried a lot more history that it had already, and it could have been a lot more exciting in my opinion. I wish i would have liked this book better.

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.

As if being a teenager was not hard enough this is the story of Ray who was born Ramona and is trying to change that but needs the permission of both her parents. One played by Nomai Watts seems supportive as a single mother raising Ray all by herself. The other is absent due to a series of events that need to be unfolded so that Ray can be normal.I like Elle Fanning in the movie, she was good. She plays Ray as that typical emotional teenager, but mature and driven enough that it did not annoy me. Although, her performance did not make me believe that Ray is a heterosexual teenage boy that she was trying to pass him off as. It could be that I'm missing the point. Maybe, or maybe there is a reason Hilary Swank won an Oscar for playing a woman living her life as a man in Boys Don't Cry.The movie is a bit of an emotional roller coaster, which is good, but I've definitely been on way, way better roller coasters based on less sophisticated topics. You are suppose to feel something in this type of movie. For me it felt mostly like the film wanted me to have a side on the topic, and then see what happens once all the cards are on the table, but it did not touch me like they were hoping it would.I saw in another review someone stated that 3 Generations could have been much more. I don't know the more it could have been, but I'm guessing that's what's lacking from this ride. Based on the subject matter, I don't know enough about women going through the process of becoming men to know what's missing to make this story pop. I just know it does not have it.I do know that the movie is not just about the hot button topic as the title suggest. It's primary story is about (Or should be about) 3 Generations of women in one house. That overall plot may work better as a sitcom with today's episode being about how Ramona wants to live her life as Ray. With the movie's focus on Ray's plot they did not leave that much room for the 3 Generations overall plot, starring Susan Sarandon as the 1st Generation, who owns the home and is a Lesbian living with her life partner (As they are of that generation that could not get married), and is confused about the whole Ray situation, which seems Ironic, but when you watch the movie you'll see it's not, and Elle Fanning is the 3rd generation who was born a woman but is a man inside. Then there's Naomi Watts who plays the second Generation. Perfectly placed in the middle. By traditional standards her problems and hang ups seem normal compared to her mother, who she is nothing like and her son, who she is nothing like. Give credit to these fine actors that I even have a small notion of what you would expect from a film called 3 Generations. I never fully got the joust of who Sarandon was supposed to be playing other than a woman who owns the home, and Ironically Watts character was 2 dimensional, even though the movie revolved greatly around her.I'm thinking the movie should have been like Little Boxes. Not a similar story, as that movie was about the day-to-day effects of racism, but similar in the sense that the comedy of the Dramedy, comes from the family dealing with their issues as a family. I see them attempting this in 3 Generations but it's not done well enough to pull the strings.http://cinemagardens.com/