Roger Ebert noted, “It
also works as a lot of other things. "Tootsie" is the kind of Movie
with a capital M that they used to make in the 1940s, when they weren't afraid
to mix up absurdity with seriousness, social comment with farce, and a little
heartfelt tenderness right in there with the laughs. This movie gets you coming
and going.”
Hoffman plays Michael
Dorsey, a character that probably wasn’t anything like Hoffman in his youth.
Michael is a New York actor, upbeat, forceful, talented – and without a job. “You
mean nobody in New York wants to hire me?” he asks his agent (the late Sydney
Pollack), doubtfully. “I’d go farther than that, Michael,” his agent says. “Nobody
in Hollywood wants to hire you, either.”
Michael has a bad status
for taking viewpoints, having outbursts, and thinking roles differently than
the director. How to get work? He goes with a friend, played by Terri Garr, to
an audition for a soap opera. The character is a middle-aged hospital
administrator. When his friend doesn’t get the job, Michael goes home, thinks
outside the box, decides and dresses up in drags and goes to an audition
himself. With intelligent improvising, he gets the part.
Which brings us to “Tootsie’s”
main question: Can a New York actor in his 40s find health, happiness and
romance as a New York actress in her 40s? Dustin Hoffman is actually very
believable as “Dorothy,” the actress. Ebert says, “If his voice isn't quite
right, a Southern accent allows it to squeak by. The wig and the glasses are a
little too much, true, but in an uncanny way the woman played by Hoffman looks
like certain actual women who look like drag queens.” Dorothy might have
trouble living in Evanston, but in Manhattan, nobody even questions her.
Ebert credited, “"Tootsie"
might have been content to limit itself to the complications of New York life
in drag; it could have been "Victor/Victoria Visits Elaine's." But
the movie's a little more ambitious than that. Michael Dorsey finds to his interest
and amusement that Dorothy begins to take on a life of her own. She's a
liberated eccentric, a woman who seems sort of odd and funny at first, but
grows on you and wins your admiration by standing up for what's right.”
One of the things that
annoys Dorothy is the way the soap opera’s sexist director (Dabney Coleman) mishandles
and condescends the attractive young actress (Jessica Lange) who plays Julie, a
nurse on the show. Dorothy and Julie become friends and finally close friends.
However, Dorothy has an issue where the man that is dressed up as her
eventually has an uncontrollable love for Julie.
There are other
problems. Julie’s father, played by Charles Durning, a grumpy, friendly,
no-nonsense man, lonely but sweet, falls in love with Dorothy. Michael hardly
knows how to deal with everything, and his roommate, played by Bill Murray,
doesn’t help at all. Looking at Dorothy in one of her new costumes, he looks subtly,
“Don’t play hard to get.”
Ebert noted, “"Tootsie"
has a lot of fun with its plot complications; we get almost every possible
variation on the theme of mistaken sexual identities. The movie also manages to
make some lighthearted but well-aimed observations about sexism. It also pokes
satirical fun at soap operas, New York show business agents and the Manhattan
social pecking order.” The movie becomes a touching love story, in the end – so
touching that you might be shocked how emotional you get at the end of this
comedy.
Hands down, this is one
of the best comedies ever made and another one of my absolute favorites. This
movie predates other comedies along this line like “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Big
Momma’s House,” and it’s hilarious in its own respectable way. If you haven’t
seen this movie, I insist that everyone watches it. You will love this movie, I
promise you.
Now if you liked that,
stay tuned next week for a movie that Dustin Hoffman did that was based on a
play that Hoffman also did, in the next installment of “Dustin Hoffman Month.”
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