Tootsie

When this film was being shown at a theater as part of a classic film series, I wanted to see it. I have heard about "Tootsie" and after seeing it on the big screen, pop culture references I have been exposed to beforehand now make sense. The best part of this film was the performance of Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman. I also noticed the themes of sexism and the editing of various scenes. This is definitely one of the great comedy-dramas but in terms of my personal tastes, I just couldn't enjoy the film as much as I wanted to. It may have to do with the fact that I grew up watching "Mrs. Doubtfire" instead.

I like the opening scenes such as during the credits because you really get a sense of the kind of man/actor Michael is. You root for him despite his flaws with women and acting. Michael tries out for the part of Emily Kimberly as Dorothy only to prove George, his agent, wrong. I enjoy the cut from Michael Dorsey saying "Oh, yeah?" to Dorothy Michaels walking down the street. Because we have seen the posters, we know what Dorothy looks like but the shot of the street is so well constructed that we still have to look hard to recognize Dorothy among the other women walking. When Dorothy gets the part, Michael accepts it only for the money as he says. Michael however immediately looses control of the situation in that he is forced to sleep with Sandy. While watching "Tootsie", I kept thinking about the real TV soap opera "General Hospital" and it turns out that Dustin Hoffman did visit the set of the show for research. Another great use of editing is the montage with Amy being babysat by Dorothy/Michael. The film did have me laughing quite a bit but I was also on the edge of my seat because of the drama of the awkward situations. I also liked how Michael starts relating more to women and how he uses his frustrations with working as a man to drive his performance as a woman. Another great sequence was Dorothy dealing with two men on the same night. Dorothy's line when John shows up was too funny because of Hoffman's delivery. Dorothy's big reveal was very well edited as well. Due to pop culture references I have seen previously, I was able to predict the plot except for the very ending scene between Michael and Julie. I got the resolution I wanted.

As mentioned, Dustin Hoffman's performance was my favorite quality of "Tootsie". He was effectively able to create two characters. We know that Dorothy is a man but she is still a very real character. Hoffman's reaction to having Julie's drink in his face was one moment that I really took notice. Jessica Lange won the film's only Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Julie. I did like her performance in that she was able to play the scenes very realistically. Teri Garr deserved her nomination in the same category but I also would have given the award to Lange. That year, Lange was also nominated at the Oscars for Best Actress for her role in another film. The only other movie I have seen the late Charles Durning in was "The Muppet Movie" and he was good as Les. Ever since a child, the earliest role of Bill Murray's that I have was Peter on "Ghostbusters". That has now changed. Murray's best scene was when Jeff comes home and John is making a move on Dorothy. The look on Jeff's face is priceless. I loved Sydney Pollack's work in front of the camera. His work as the director was fine and years later he would win an Oscar as a director but I liked his character George more. Every scene he had with Hoffman was so fun to watch. Hoffman insisted that Pollack play this role by the way. To end off, the musical score was pretty good in some moments.

The American Film Institute has named "Tootsie" as the second funniest movie of all time behind "Some Like It Hot". The film garnished ten Oscar nominations but only won a single Academy Award as previously indicated. Other nominations I haven't already mentioned were for Best Editing, Cinematography, Sound, Original Song ("It Might Be You"), Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Hoffman), Best Director (Pollack) and Best Picture. This was Dustin Hoffman's fifth Oscar nomination by the way. He won the Golden Globe that year for this role at least. The US Library of Congress has preserved "Tootsie" in the National Film Registry and the show was the second highest grossing film of 1982 after "E.T." The reason why I don't rate this film all that high is because I grew up for the most part in the next decade. Also, "Mrs. Doubtfire" was slightly more family friendly and "Tootsie" has a few too many risqué moments. Putting that aside, the editing was great in telling the story and Dustin Hoffman succeeded in the most important job of making Dorothy believable and likeable.

3.5 Stars