Television actresses going into film work is an interesting dichotomy. We want them to be similar, but not too similar to the characters they played on the boob tube. We understand their artistic need to branch out, but we don’t want them to veer too far off familiar paths. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Such is the case with the following two examples.

Desperate housewife Felicity Huffman gives a nuanced performance as Bree, a pre-op male-to-female transsexual in TransAmerica, which makes you forget she has ever spent time on Wisteria Lane. Just days before her scheduled sexual-reassignment surgery, Bree discovers she has fathered a son back in her college days. Her son, Toby, played by Kevin Zegers, is a troubled, slinging-his-hash-for-cash street hustler who is locked up in a New York City jail. But he’s got big dreams: His end-all, be-all goal is to be a gay porn star. Dare to dream, Toby, dare to dream.

Bree flies from Los Angeles to N.Y.C. and poses as a Christian missionary in order to spring Toby from the clink. Faster than you can say road trip, the two are off, discovering America and each other. A true highlight of the film is a visit to Bree’s family and her scene-stealing mother, portrayed by Fionnula Flanagan.

With her adept comic timing, bolstered by dramatic touches, Huffman pulls off what could have been a very difficult performance. She received rave reviews for being a woman playing a man playing a woman. And, girl, you was robbed at Oscar time!

The Family Stone’s Sarah Jessica Parker is on vacation from Carrie Bradshaw and “Sex & The City.” She plays wound-as-tight-as-the-bun-on-the-top-of-her-head Meredith, a character that has you vacillating, albeit briefly, between sympathy and annoyance during her visit to the titular family. At one point during the movie, I just wanted to jump into the screen, undo her hair, put her in a fabulous frock, some Manolo Blahniks, have her “couldn’t help but wondering” in front of a blank computer screen, and tell her to snap out of it! In layman’s terms, I love Carrie Bradshaw and did not care for Meredith.

This is not the fault of SJP. She really did try to do something different, but it just didn’t resonate with this viewer. The tone of the film swings back and forth, like a pendulum of uncertainty, between comedy and drama. Perhaps the marketing folks should be held accountable as well. From the previews, it appeared that shenanigans would ensue. But this film set at Christmastime has all the earmarks of being “the feel-good comedy of the year” what with its cancer and adultery plotlines.

The Family Stone includes one of the most uncomfortable scenes ever committed to celluloid. The scene involves the Stone’s gay, deaf son and SJP at the dinner table. The resolution of characters’ dilemmas rings hollow, and had me scratching my head as to why the various outcomes were taken as gospel.

Co-starring “it girl” Rachel McAdams, Claire Danes, Luke Wilson, Dermot Mulroney (dude, branch out) as Meredith’s prospective fiancé, and Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson as the parental units of this dysfunctional clan. This is one Stone that should be left unturned.

“The Facts of Life” makes it DVD debut 27 years after airing on NBC for the first time. The Eastland gang’s all here: Mrs. G., Blair, Natalie, Jo, Tootie, Molly, Sue Ann and Cindy. Not familiar with the last three? That’s because they only made it through the first season, when Tootie was a precursor to Heather Graham’s “Roller Girl” in Boogie Nights. Of note, Molly was none other than ’80s teen queen Molly Ringwald.

The second season has the familiar lineup that made the phrase “I learned something here today” a comedy staple on NBC for nine seasons. I certainly learned a lot from the “Facts” girls. Aside from taking the good with the bad, if you take them both, there you’ll have “The Facts of Life.” Ah, words to live by.

“That Girl” starred Marlo Thomas as plucky Ann Marie, aspiring actress and pre-women’s libber that lived on her own and made things happen for herself. You go, “That Girl!” Transport yourself back in time with groovy ’60s fashion, Thomas’ signature flip and such hard-hitting episodes as the consequences of getting your toe stuck in a bowling ball. Didn’t you always want a kite with your likeness on it, or to have a doppelganger mannequin wink at you from a store window display, like they did in the show’s opening credits? This girl did. Sigh. Co-starring Ted Bessel as her beau, Donald Hollinger.