Review of Tootsie (1982) by John H — 15 Mar 2010

"TOOTSIE," in my opinion, is the best comedy of the 1980s. It's a perfect film, and I'm not that big a fan of Dustin Hoffman. He plays Michael Dorsey, an actor that no one, and I mean no one, will hire.

So when a friend of his tries out for the lead in a daytime soap opera,and doesn't get the role, he decides he will try out. So he dresses up like a woman, changes his name to Dorothy Michaels, and lands the role.

Now this is a short term character and he decides to do the role in order to raise money to fund a play he has written. But guess what happens? Dorothy Michaels, seemingly overnight, becomes the biggest thing to hit daytime TV since, I don't know, Susan Lucci??? Of course there are complications-he falls for an actress on the show(Jessica Lange) and then Lange's father (Charles Durning) falls for Dorothy.

This movie is such a delight that sometimes I find myself watching it on cable with commercials-and I have the dvd. Every role is perfectly cast. Teri Garr and Bill Murray play Michaels friends, Dabney Coleman is the sexist soap director, and even director Sydney Pollack gets a role as Michaels agent.

This film had the bad luck of being released the same year as Gandhi or this film would probably have swept the Oscars. Lange won her first Oscar, for Supporting Actress, for this film and I completely fell in love with her.

I mean, the girl from KING KONG gets an Oscar, how unreal is that???? This film hasn't aged a bit, I like it just as good today as I did when I was twelve-and I can't say that about a lot of films.

So if you've never seen it, see it. and if you have seen it, watch it again anf fall in love with "Tootsi" all over again. Directed by Sydney Pollack. Columbia Pictures. Rated PG.