When Netflix calls a movie a “fever dream” in its description, go ahead and believe it. This flick is weirdly unmoored from reality except when it’s not… and except when it is. Early on I uttered “what in hell is this?” during the plastic surgery hospital dance number. Which has something to do with the Mexican drug cartels. <scratches head>

It’s about a lawyer played by Zoe Saldana who is “asked” to help a cartel kingpin find a safe, secure, and private hospital where he can fully transition into a woman. And then the lawyer helps her family go into hiding. Plus songs. And dance. It’s the all-singing, all-dancing Mexican trans drug cartel musical review!

The musical numbers are weird… and sometimes cool (especially the one where they sing and dance about government corruption). I’m not sure I’d hum any of them later on but I think they were oddball enough to enjoy… which assumes this is an oddball movie.

But it’s really not. It’s definitely got some wild ideas going on but only sometimes. It’s otherwise a serious drama about transitioning and then finding your way in the world after. It kind of segues into a complicated, borderline unethical soap opera. And then into fixing some of the mistakes made before the transition… because what we really want is the redemption arc of a drug cartel murdering monster?

Because, yeah, there’s a late strange change to the film where I kind of sat back and said, “Is THIS what the movie was really about?” It ties into the Cartel storyline for sure but I have no idea how it ties into the gender reassignment plot. But here we are, dealing with the unnerving social ills of Mexico. Commendable… but out of left field.

But not so far out of left field that the seriously dumb ending didn’t get there first. The movie goes from musical drama to action thriller melodrama? I guess it had to find an ending, but it was kind of pointless and had me checking the time, wondering if there were really twenty minutes to go or if Netflix would pull its patented ten minutes of credits. Kind of a fizzle and great big splotch of a finale.

So, yeah I was interested in where in hell this movie was going, fascinated by its go-for-broke-ness, and then curious about how it was going to end before I really wished it had just ended sooner. I don’t get where it ultimately goes but I enjoyed enough of it getting there. So… middle ground film, at war with itself… and maybe a fever dream (thanks Netflix).

Score: 79