Film: Tootsie

Director: Sydney Pollack
Genre: Comedy
Source: USA (1982)
Rating: PG
Location/Format: Turner Classic Movies
Grade: A-

A few months ago I saw a clip from an interview with Dustin Hoffman where he talked about putting on the makeup to play Dorothy and realizing for the first time what a tragedy the price we put on looks has. He said that he realized that he was an ugly woman, and that it struck him how sad it made him because he thought he was such an interesting, intelligent person with so much to offer, but that people would ignore him because he wasn't attractive--and that he himself would have ignored a woman who looked the way he looked. Questioning that reduction of women from complex, wonderful beings to a mere physical commodity is at the heart of Tootsie, and though we have made progress since then, that reduction still happens today everyday. I look at Internet message boards like Reddit, for example, and find that contributions are immediately viewed differently when the poster is revealed to be a woman--and immediately a search for whether or not the woman has posted risque pictures of herself, etc. becomes part of the discussion chain. It's not the same thing exactly, but there are elements in that social dynamic that relate to what Pollack, Hoffman, and Lange are doing with Tootsie. 

This was a rewatch for me, but it had been several years, and I was surprised by how much I continue to enjoy this film. Hoffman really is excellent as both Michael and as Dorothy, and though the film does feel dated in some of its gender politics, it still manages to be both compelling and funny. Teri Garr doesn't have much to do besides be a bit of a whiney shrew, but Jessica Lange gives a pretty thoughtful--and surprisingly sad--performance as Michael's new love interest. And Bill Murray, I mean, he's Bill Murray. He nails it pretty much every time.

It did strike me that the conclusion to this film feels a little too easy, but perhaps I was just hoping to see more interaction with the "real" Michael and Lange's Julie. Still, overall a really great film. I think it stands up.

Alternate Film Title: "Sexism and the Single Girl-Boy"