Boy Meets Girl (2014) is an American coming-of-age, independent romantic comedy-drama film. The full-length feature focuses on Ricky (Michelle Hendley), a 20-something trans woman in a small Kentucky town who is striving to save enough money for fashion school in New York City. Things get complicated when she becomes involved with Francesca (Alexandra Turshen), a debutante and Southern belle engaged to a Marine, and when Ricky’s best friend, Robbie (Michael Welch), realizes he has feelings for his bestie.
One of the most striking impressions is just how sunny Ricky is. She is funny, smart, warm, and completely lovable as she works to advance herself in the world and even while she makes some mistakes. She really is a character to cheer for throughout the whole summer-by-the-lake story. We feel deeply for her as her backstory is revealed and as she stumbles through her newly discovered bisexuality, which is supported by and cheered on by her best friend. In fact, most of the small town is entirely accepting of Ricky and her newfound love — with some very notable exceptions from Francesca’s family and fiancé. It’s also wonderful to see a trans character being played by a trans woman, which is far too rare of an occurrence.
Ricky exemplifies saintly patience in the face of characters who know nothing about trans people. While the dialogue can sometimes veer into educational territory, the core of the movie hits the right notes. Francesca treats Ricky with compassion and deep humanity, defending her at every transphobic turn from her family and fiancé.
All that said, the film is not without its faults. For one, it’s not necessarily great to make a bi character’s self-discovery arc come through an adultery plot (even if the fiancé is transphobic) as it can get into “bad bi” trope territory. It’s also disconcerting that, for one of the main emotional thrusts of the narrative being Ricky’s burgeoning bisexuality, the term “bi” is never used. (The script does have her at one point saying she is “bicurious”, but that’s it.)
When speaking about the film and other recent happenings in her career, Turshen touched on her sexual fluidity.
From an interview with The Advocate:
“During a recent question-and-answer session for Boy Meets Girl, an audience member identified Turshen as ‘straight’ in a question during talk-backs. Turshen, who rejects labels but when pressed says her orientation is ‘fluid’, was taken aback. I was tempted to make a joke and turn around looking behind me for the ‘straight’ girl they might be referring to,” she tells The Advocate. “But then I thought … No, I don’t want to embarrass this person. So instead I gently suggested to them that they were assuming an awful lot about me.” Turshen’s ‘coming-out’ moment was met with little fanfare — a response that seems right to Turshen, who remains comfortable with simply being who she is without being placed into society’s boxes.
“I hope it’s not news when an actor or actress is open about who they love”, she states simply. “I’ve never really had to ‘come out’ in the industry because I’ve always been a bit of an open book. And I realized early on that labeling myself as ‘bisexual’ or a ‘lesbian’ or whatever really wasn’t about me understanding myself, it was an attempt at making other people ‘get me’ — which, as it turns out, really isn’t all that important. But I consider myself lucky to live in a time when people are starting to see that sexuality and gender identity can be as open and fluid as we allow it to be.”
Overall, Boy Meets Girl is a sunny, funny, and winning film about a bi trans woman. Though at times the dialogue can border on after-school special as far as educating other characters about trans identity and issues, it’s wonderful to see bi trans women in film — especially when the character succeeds and isn’t killed off (no #KillYourGays here). Boy Meets Girls is just good, heartwarming queer movie viewing