Tootsie (1982)

 

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Tootsie (1982) – S. Pollack

Of course, there is an inescapable datedness about Tootsie but this lies more in the fashions, music, cinematography, and art direction than in the gender relations at the heart of its plot.  In fact, the central conceit that Dustin Hoffman becomes a better man as a function of spending time as a woman holds up just as well today as in 1982.  This is precisely because the burdens of being a woman (unwanted sexual attention and patronising treatment by men, additional requirements for make-up and body maintenance, etc.) have not changed.  Hoffman learns about these things when he decides to dress in drag to land the part of a hospital administrator on a soap opera, going from Michael Dorsey to Dorothy Michaels.  Perhaps the only sour note is the implication that Jessica Lange, another actress on the soap who is in a relationship with the director who treats her badly, can learn something from the empowered Dorothy who stands up for women’s rights on the set (the problem is that it seems to take a man in drag to take action whereas the actual women here, including friend Teri Garr, are more submissive).  But aside from this, the movie is surprisingly good natured, even when Jessica Lange thinks that Dorothy is a lesbian or when the various available older men (Charles Durning, George Gables) make their plays for Dorothy and she/he wants to resist. We don’t get slapstick here but something more genuine.  Even Bill Murray, as Hoffman’s roommate, plays things straight with only a handful of witty one-liners (apparently improvised), a sign of things to come. All told, although I hesitated when the film began with nary a laugh in sight, sticking it out proved to be worth it for the wider arc and message of the story.