Tootsie

Tootsie (1982)

**** (out of 4)

Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is an unemployed actor who is told by his agent (Sydney Pollack) that there's no one in the country that will hire him due to his attitude. Dorsey, seeing this as a challenge, decides to dress as a woman calling herself Dorothy Michaels and gets a job on a soap opera where he strikes up a relationship with one of the stars (Jessica Lange) on the show. As more and more pressure begins to mount, Michael must decide how to get out of the woman's outfit and reveal the truth.

TOOTSIE is in my opinion one of the greatest comedies of the decade and I'd go even further and call it one of the greatest comedies ever made. There are so many wonderful things in the film and it works on so many levels that it's almost shocking when you look back at the film and see how wonderful it is. Not only does the "comedy" of a man dressing as a woman work but the film is more than just laughs as it hits on what it means to be an actor struggling to get work but there's also a lot of heart to the film and there's certainly many underline themes dealing with the differences between men and women.

There are a lot of great things in this movie but there's no question that the true magic belongs to Hoffman who turns in one of his greatest performances. It's rather amazing to see him work here because he's basically got two different characters that share certain things but in the end they have to be separate characters. What impressed me the most was how believable he was as the female character. Not only does the supporting characters have to be able to believe he's a woman but the magic comes because when you see Hoffman as the woman, you believe it to. I think it's somewhat fitting that during the closing credits the character gets separate credits as does Hoffman. I think his performance as the woman is so great that many probably would believe that a real woman was playing her.

The supporting cast is wonderful as well with Lange certainly deserving her Best Supporting Actress Oscar. She gives her character so much heart and pain that you can't help but root for her. Dabney Coleman and Charles Durning are both terrific in their roles as is Teri Garr who is downright hilarious as a somewhat psychotic friend. THen there's Pollack who is simply great as the agent. Bill Murray gives one of his greatest performances here because the story itself is quite out there yet his dry one-liners are just so hilarious that you can't help but have tears running down your face.

Again, the film works perfectly as a comedy but it's so much more than that. The relationship between Dorothy and her co-worker is very believable and the various twists that happen in the plot seem real and they're never forced. The comedy comes in a very natural way and the realistic characters seem real and not something faked or made up. To me TOOTSIE is a flawless movie that manages to get funnier the more times you see it, which is something hard for a comedy to do.

It's strange how seeing a man dressed up as a woman always seems to be funny and popular with the audiences. Milton Berle helped make television with skits like this on his early 1950s show. It works here, too, with Dustin Hoffman applying the makeup and playing the role to the hilt.

Helping Hoffman is Jessica Lange in, by far, her most attractive role. I'm not particularly a fan of hers but she looked spectacular in here, almost like Marilyn Monroe.

This was a popular film because the humor was good and the two leads did a nice job, and people like a good romance story, too. Hoffman, like him or not, is a fabulous, able to play so many diverse roles. He's an amazing actor.

Sometimes overlooked is the big-name supporting cast which includes Dabney Coleman, Teri Garr, Bill Murray, Chares Durning and Geena Davis. The latter was making her screen debut in here!

This isn't as "cute" as it was 25 years ago but it sure was a justifiable bit hit back in the early '80s.

Remember when comedies used to be actual movies with actual stories with actual points and the funny just flowed out of them, instead of just a flimsy excuse to string together jokes and funny scenes and stock situations? Yeah, me too. What happened?

If you're in the mood for a great movie that will get you to cough up a boatload of honest laughs, then you ain't gonna do better than TOOTSIE. You are not going to find a better written, acted, and directed comedy anywhere. There are plenty as good - but none better. This is a career highpoint for all involved, and when "all" includes names such as Sydney Pollack and Dustin Hoffman, you know that's a sentiment that carries some significant weight.

And it just reaffirms the old adage that every single comedy should have Bill Murray in it.

Wow!, what a film anyone who has seen this film would definetly agree with me that this film touches you in so many different places. It's funny, sad but also appealing to so many different people. Dustin Hoffman is superb in it, so is Jessica Lange the way they act on set together is very amusing but when they are alone, it's always an emotional scene. Especially the scene in which Julie (Lange) throws a glass of champagne at him when he tries to come on to her at a party, it's so funny. Murray is also good as Hoffman's mixed-up flat mate. Sydney Pollack the director also takes a small role as Hoffman's Agent who unsuccesfully tries to find him work. The viewer sees the struggle of all the characters in their everyday life. There is also a touch of romance in the fim for the sentimentals in this world. The whole team bonds together to create a funny, imaginative film suitable for anyone who is in the mood for a laugh or a cry. I thouroughly reccomend it!!

Michael, an unemployed actor in New York, takes desperate measures by dressing up as a woman called Dorothy Michaels and gets a job at an TV soap opera, where he falls in love with Julie. But how to tell her that he is actually a man...?

Winner of 3 Golden Globes ( Best movie comedy/musical, best actors Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange ) and one Oscar ( Best actress Jessica Lange ), "Tootsie" is a small masterpiece of intelligent comedy, full of emotions, love and interesting observations about the relationship between women and men.

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The situations are deliciously written. Just take the scene where Dorothy is auditioning for the role in the TV soap opera but is turned down because she is "too soft". Her response is gold: "Yes, I know what you want! You want some gross caricature of a woman to prove some idiotic point, like power makes women masculine, or masculine women are ugly...! Well, shame on you, you macho sh*t a**!" When later asked from the producer if she was just acting when she said that or if she was natural, she responded: "Which answer will get me the job?" Needless to say she got the job that instant, and a special place in my heart. But the best scenes are the ones where Dorothy is constantly improvising on the set, like when she was supposed to say to a woman who was beaten up by her man to take a therapy, but instead decided to tell that she would never let a man raise his hand on her( and then she threw a vase of flowers into the wall! ). Wonderful fun! Billy Wilder would be proud!

Dustin Hoffman is pure genius, more as a woman then as a man, as are Terri Garr and Bill Murray, before his critical fame with "Lost in translation" and "Broken flowers". "Tootsie" is quite simply a classic all the way through!

Grade: 10/10