***In Memory of Sydney Pollock (1934-2008)***

In June 2000, the American Film Institute compiled a list of the 100 Greatest Film comedies of all-time. At number one was Billy Wilder's classic 1959 drag-comedy Some Like It Hot. A film that featured two men who dressed up as women in order to evade the mob after witnessing a murder. In second place was another drag-inspired comedy about a brilliant but difficult actor whose desperate search for work forced him to dress up like a woman in order to get a part for a soap opera. Released in 1982 and often hailed as a classic, the film was simply called Tootsie.

Directed by Sydney Pollock and written by Larry Gelbart, Murray Schisgal, and Don McGuire with additional contributions from Barry Levinson, Robert Garland, and Elaine May. The film tells the story of Michael Dorsey, an actor who is brilliant but extremely difficult as he tries to raise money for a play he co-wrote. Realizing that no one will hire him after his friend lost a huge part, he decides to play the part in a TV soap opera by dressing as a woman. During this time, he battles a sexist director while falling for one of his co-stars as well as attracting the attention of men. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, George Gaynes, Sydney Pollock, Geena Davis, Doris Belack, and Bill Murray. Tootsie is a brilliant, funny, sweet comedy that shows how a man becomes a better man as a woman.

For all of his brilliance and talent, Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) couldn't catch a break. His notorious perfectionism and spats with directors has often kept him from getting an acting job. While writing and trying to get funding for a play he wrote with his roommate Jeff Slater (Bill Murray), he also tries to help out actors as well as his friend Sandy (Teri Garr), who is also involved with Michael and Jeff's play. Sandy has nabbed an audition to play a new character for the daytime soap Southwest General but has confidence issues into getting the part. Michael decides to attend the audition for support only to learn that a theater part he's been dying for has been given to an established actor. He confronts his agent George Fields (Sydney Pollock) who tells him that no one will work with Michael. Especially since his last job was playing a tomato for a commercial.

Taking matters into his own hands, Michael decides to go for the part Sandy lost by dressing up as a woman named Dorothy Michaels. During Dorothy's audition, she starts to fight with the show's director Ron Carlisle (Dabney Coleman) as she gets another chance to audition by the producer Rita Marshall (Doris Belack) as Dorothy got a new job while meeting one of his co-stars Julie Nichols (Jessica Lange). Hoping that it will be a temporary job and telling Fields he got the part, he gets money for dresses and goes on a diet. After meeting another co-star named April Page (Geena Davis), Dorothy learns she has a kissing scene with John Van Horn (George Gaynes) but her sense of improvisation manages to make the scene compelling as Dorothy filmed her first scenes without trouble.

With only George and Jeff knowing that Michael is playing Dorothy, Michael tries to hide the role from Sandy by having an affair with her. Yet, Michael as Dorothy finds himself falling for Julie as he befriends her and meets her widowed father Les (Charles Durning). Yet, just as Dorothy's popularity grow and helping to increase ratings, Michael feels excited about being Dorothy though during a meeting with Julie as himself at a party. It becomes a disaster until Julie invites Dorothy for a holiday at her father's home as he enjoys Les' company along with Julie and her baby daughter Amy (Amy Lawrence). With Dorothy Michaels becoming the new voice for women in soaps, Rita Marshall decides to extend her contract and give her a raise but Michael finds himself in trouble.

When Julie decides to end her relationship with Ron Carlisle, even as he's having affairs with several women including April, she asks Dorothy to watch Amy for her as she confronts Ron over his womanizing ways. When Julie comes home from her date, Dorothy tries to comfort that brings up the wrong idea as Dorothy's night gets stranger when Les asks her out on a date. Les, smitten by Dorothy wants her hand in marriage as just as Dorothy's night is about to get worse. John Van Horn arrives to her apartment to have a drink with her which she refuses until he serenades her and wants to sleep with her until Jeff arrives. Realizing the mess he's already made with Julie, Les, Sandy, Jeff, and John Van Horn. Michael wants out as in the role of Dorothy, he tries to apologize to Julie over her actions as Julie becomes uncomfortable leading to a huge moment during a live-taping of the show.

A mix of romance, comedy, and light-hearted drama, the film is a genre-bender of sorts but it is rooted in its comedy genre. What makes this film so brilliant is a funny, witty script that is filled with lot of light-hearted humor and dialogue, improvisation, and characters that audiences can relate to and root for. The script written by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal is truly wonderful in how a brilliant but out-of-work actor is so desperate for work to raise money for his own play. He'll even dress up like a woman to get the role only to fall for a woman while realizing that being a woman makes him a better man in understanding them. The film is also in some strange way, a feminist film as Michael Dorsey makes Dorothy Michaels into a feminist of sorts. Particularly in one scene where she is acting on the TV show to a character playing an abused woman. Michaels' point of view about things makes her into a feminist character who helps women stand up for themselves and such.

While the script works as a part-feminist film with a man playing the feminist, it's still a comedy but also a romantic-comedy in the storyline between Michael/Dorothy and Julie. When Michael is being himself in a scene with Julie, he acts like a jerk but as Dorothy, he acts as her close friend as he gets a sense of understanding in being a woman. This is where Sydney Pollock's direction is at its brilliance in building up the relationship between Michael/Dorothy and Julie while allowing the audience to get to know other characters like Ron Carlisle, John Van Horn, Jeff Slater, and Sandy. With Pollock's background in television and theater, he explores the world of acting through its different forms. Both TV and theater as the character of Michael uses his skills to play to both mediums. Pollock's presentation of the TV soap format is very realistic in how the director and producer work around everything and how the actors rehearse and read their lines.

The sense of improvisation and looseness is also key to Pollock's direction as he lets the comedy flow naturally while not go way into silly, slapstick humor. Allowing the actors including himself, to say funny lines and be in character while letting the audience feel relaxed and giving them a good time. The result is truly superb as Pollock's direction is truly top-notch and smoothly entertaining.

Cinematographer Owen Roizman does a good job with the film's look with his polished yet colorful camera work to show the style of lighting for TV soaps and such while the shots of the exterior of New York City is wonderful to look at. Editors Fredric and William Steinkamp do an excellent job with the film's pacing and cutting style that is smooth and relaxing to play to the film's unique tone. Production designer Peter S. Larkin and set decorator Thomas C. Tonery do a fantastic job with the looks of the different apartments of Michael and Julie as well as the set designs of the soap opera set they created. Costume designer Ruth Morley and supervisor Bernie Pollock do a fantastic job with the film's costumes. Particularly on the dresses that Dustin Hoffman wears as well as the clothes of the cast for the soap opera.

Sound recordist Phillips Rogers does a fine job with the film's sound including the atmosphere of TV production and such. The film's music by Dave Grusin is bouncy and melodic as it leans towards the sound of soft rock. Yet, Grusin along with noted lyricists Alan & Marilyn Bergman create two memorable songs for the film both sung by Stephen Bishop. The upbeat title song and the love ballad It Might Be You, the latter of which was a hit song that works for the film's light-hearted romantic tone.

The cast assembled by Toni Howard and Lynn Stalmaster is excellent as it features small appearances from the likes of Estelle Getty, Ellen Foley, and Christine Ebersole plus cameo appearances from Andy Warhol and a then-unknown Marg Helgenberger. Memorable small performances from Amy Lawrence as Julie's daughter, Anne Shropshire as Amy's scary nanny, and the late Lynn Thigpen as Carlisle's assistant director. Doris Belack is great as the show's producer Rita Marshall who hires Dorothy on the spot while convinced that the show's success and increased ratings is all due to her. In her film debut, Geena Davis is good as a young actress who first appear in her underwear as she makes Dorothy a bit nervous while being one of the women Ron is having an affair with. George Gaynes is wonderfully funny as an aging actor who is forced to read his line through cue cards and such as Dorothy gives him confidence as he also falls for her. Sydney Pollock is great in his cameo as agent George Fields who has some of the funniest lines as Michael's agent who keeps telling him that no one will work with him.

Dabney Coleman is excellent as a sexist TV director who likes to sleep around with other women and treat Julie inferior to him as he dukes it out with Dorothy Michaels. Charles Durning is brilliant in his charming role as Julie's father Les who tries to woo Dorothy while showing a softer side as a man longing for love since the death of his wife a long time ago. Teri Garr is great in her role as the insecure Sandy, a struggling actress who has a hard time getting a role only to duped by Michael's own flirtations as she finally gains confidence as an actress. Bill Murray is amazingly funny as Jeff Slater, Michael's laid-back roommate who knows what Michael is doing as Murray has some of the funniest one-liners film with his deadpan delivery that is Murray in classic form. Then there's Jessica Lange in an Oscar-winning performance as Julie Nichols. Lange's understated, graceful performance is a wonderful mix of beauty and depth as a young actress struggling to be a single mom and juggling an unhappy relationship as she gains confidence with help from Dorothy on her life as a woman. Lange, often seen as a pretty face, proves her talents as an actress in which, she wins her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Finally, there's Dustin Hoffman in one of his iconic performances as both Michael Dorsey and Dorothy Michaels. Hoffman's performance as Dorsey is brilliant for someone who is trying to be a total professional and artist who can’t catch a break only to understand what women are. Hoffman as Michaels is a character full of charm and attitude as it's a brilliant performance-within-a performance that just knocks the walls down. Hoffman is truly amazing from start to finish from the early scene of him acting various characters like an old man to a boy that shows his superb talents as one of cinema’s finest actors.

Tootsie is a classic film that after more than twenty-five years since its release, still holds up as one of the funniest and most enduring comedies of all-time. Thanks to the talents of director/producer Sydney Pollock and a great cast led by Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange. Featuring superb supporting work from Teri Garr, Charles Durning, Dabney Coleman, Geena Davis, George Gaynes, Doris Belack, Pollock himself, and Bill Murray. It's a film that gives audiences something to laugh at while it's a great date movie as well. While it's clearly an essential film among its cast members, it's also one of Sydney Pollock's finest work and probably his best film. Though his passing is sad to hear about, his memory will live on through the films he's made. Most notably this one as Tootsie is a touchstone of the great American comedy and from one of American cinema's finest directors, Sydney Pollock.



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older