Tootsie [Blu-ray]

Terrific performances in this film.

This very funny situation comedy answers the question: What could go wrong?

Like Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959), Sydney Pollack's Tootsie (1982) uses the ‘fish out of water’ patina of a man in drag merely as its crutch rather than making it the crux of the story. Therein lays the strength of the movie: also in Dustin Hoffman’s monumental performance – playing it ‘straight’ as it were - as the guy who reaffirms his own manhood by getting in touch with his feminine side. Tootsie is so rife with moments of sheer comedic brilliance it catches the viewer almost by surprise.Oh sure, we’re expecting a comedy. But the origin of our laughs is discovered in more unlikely places than under the wig and girdle. What is quite miraculous about Tootsie – especially for someone who has seen the movie now more than twenty times – is Hoffman’s ability to so completely immerse us in his character and his alter ego that somewhere along the way we can still forget this is Hoffman playing a part. George Masters’ impressive makeup can only go so far. The rest of the assimilation from man into woman comes entirely from within Hoffman’s ability to get inside Dorothy Michaels; to transfer the best elements of his presence as a star and as an actor into this curious ‘looking glass’ sense of self re-conceptualized as an unattractive female that most men would find threatening to their own fragile impressions of masculinity.Indeed, Tootsie aims at loftier ambitions; its social critique of men judging women as sex objects fueled by Hoffman’s inspiring and proactive ‘take charge’ gal with an agenda. At increments the screenplay touches upon issues of gender inequality, mixed messages emanating between the sexes, a near rape situation, transgender confusion and transsexualism; hardly expected fodder from a frothy romantic/comedy. Some thirty plus years after its debut, Tootsie’s social critique remains fresh and as plainly astute as ever. It really is difficult to critique a film as well-rounded as Tootsie. It's as real and as perfect as movies get; an embarrassment of riches: heart, class and something meaningful to say. Comedies tend to date. But Tootsie remains the gold star standard bearer by which most any other before or since can be judged.Sony Home Entertainment continues its rather frustrating trend of releasing some of its finest movies in hi-def only overseas. The Blu-ray marginally bests Sony’s North American 25th Anniversary on DVD but it’s hardly perfect and that’s a shame. At some level, the 1080p transfer is at the mercy of less than stellar existing elements. The color, processed at MGM’s labs, falters throughout this presentation. While some scenes look remarkably vibrant and exhibit very fine tonality, contrast and a good solid smattering of film grain, others appear with wan colors, heavy grain and even a visible age-related artifact or two. Montages suffer from weak contrast brought on by inferior optical printing methods back then. Sony could have gone back to the drawing board and spent its money correctly on cleaning up and stabilizing these sequences so that they more seamlessly blend with the rest of the movie. They haven’t and frankly, it stinks! The 5.1 DTS audio is a vast improvement over the Dolby Digital tracks on the 25th Anniversary DVD. Occasionally, however, dialogue sounds ever so slightly muffled.Sony’s import jettisons its 25th anniversary DVD audio commentary but retains the ‘making of’ documentary that offers some fascinating insight from Hoffman and other principle cast and crew. If you don’t already own Tootsie then this Blu-ray is the way to go. It’s not a reference quality disc, but the movie alone comes very highly recommended. Tootsie is a seminal comedy to be enjoyed and reviewed over and over again.

Movie 2 of 1982 and 92 overall in my journey through films of my lifetime.Artificial hype can be powerful. I heard a lot about "Tootsie" when I was a kid. I've known all about it my whole life because the marketing was so strong. Memory does not recall anyone I know personally talking about this movie ever. Other than the stars what is the attraction to this movie? One reason I never bothered to see "Tootsie" was my fear that it would be cliche. It was not prophetic powers that served me here. It was absolutely cliché because men in drag is cliché. One overwhelming subject truly drives me away from movies; "Blue Lagoon" for example. The subject of "Blue Lagoon" leaves very little elbow room for exploration. "Tootsie" falls under the same category. The question I send out into the aether is: what is the obsession with men in drag? It's just not remotely funny or interesting in the least. Yet I can see men in drag often in movies and TV shows and I'm expected to find it funny or anthropologically insightful.Dialogue is hard enough to manufacture, but making it clever and natural at the same time is quite the challenge. I must admit that the dialogue in "Tootsie" is its strongest asset. It was intelligent and smooth. Unfortunately it was never funny, but give the writer credit for some remarkable work in this department. So many movies insult the audience's intelligence, "Tootsie" never does that. It was a strong effort to make a good movie and I appreciated that aspect. I'd say that I imagine audiences were at least entertained by "Tootsie" as I was and that is commendable. For me most of the comedic and dramatic points fell flat but it didn't destroy the film."The Prestige" takes on a similar subject to "Tootsie." In "The Prestige" a point is made that to be a truly great magician, to set up the most effective prestige (a step in the process of an illusion), one must live their life for that particular moment. One magician takes the easy way out, the other lives the life required to achieve the greatest prestige. "Tootsie" is in a similar situation. Hoffman must become a female outside of his acting career to keep the illusion alive. It's almost painful to compare these two movies but the similarity is undeniable. Here's the thing though: living the life for the illusion is the most obvious story line for a man trying to live the life of the woman. Living the life of the prestige took some creative thinking and is not an obvious choice for that story. So while there is a comparison in terms of character exploration there is no comparison in terms of the quality of the narrative. Would it have been possible for "Tootsie" to have done something more interesting in this way. I think so. What if Hoffman's character had to compete with a female that had the life of a traditional male role foisted upon her? For example say he could not have been a father figure for a child but a woman in the child's life took on the part and he was forced to observe it? Don't get me wrong I know that's easy to say when you don't have a budget on the line and the many moving parts of a production on the line and producers to make happy and so on. The only point I'm trying to make is that the first thought is the most obvious and "Tootsie" is the first thought made into a movie and that's my biggest problem with it.Pros-entertaining-well written-thoughtful-great castCons-uninteresting premise-somewhat predictableA note on politics. The movie does take on gender issues but unlike today's polarizing intellectual environment it honors its audiences freedom to think and disagree. It is never giving a heavy handed sermon. Today's Hollywood lacks this wisdom and intelligence.

Product reviewed: 2 Disc Edition. The film is a bit of a classic by now, and deservedly so: It's fabulous. Dustin Hoffman delivers an extraordinary performance in the title role of this entirely straight cross dressing story. His character is the difficult and thus unemployable actor Michael Dorsey who hits on the idea of dressing up as a woman in order to audition for a recurring part in a hit hospital soap - the role his girlfriend is turned down for in a rather cavalier way. Of course, being a man inside the dress, he doesn't take it well when the producers treat him as disrespectfully as the other hopefuls and his combative attitude ends up getting him the job. From then on there is much fun, but also plenty of real drama, as he must juggle his private life as a straight man and his job as a mature woman, the actress Doroty Michaels (Tootsie).Love him or hate him, Dustin Hoffman delivers in this film. In spades. You gotta congratulate him for playing the kind of woman he can credibly be: middle aged, more formidable than attractive, wearing the kind of dowdy clothes it takes to conceal any giveaway features. Jessica Lange is the female lead - the co-star of Hoffman's Tootsie persona in the soap, and the woman he falls for as the man Michael Dorsey. She is pretty enough in that rather dated 80s way and she is solid as ever as actress. The young Bill Murray is fun in a small supporting role as Michael's flatmate Jeff.The film hits on many issues of gender equality and in that respect it is as relevant today as it was at its release thirty plus years ago. But it is possible to watch it purely for its entertainment value and take everything at face value. There are laughs aplenty. Perfect entertainment for a rainy Sunday afternoon.The 2 Disc Edition is really rather nice with its generous amount of bonus material on disc two. There is a lot of material about how the idea of the film was conceived and how it was realized. Also a goodly number of scenes that didn't make it into the final cut. For those who are interested, this is what you get for your money: --- Disc One: Feature Film --- Disc Two: "A Better Man: The Making of Tootsie" Documentary including A Better Man (30 mins approx), Keep it Reel (21 mins approx), Good Friends (18 mins approx). Deleted Scenes (8 mins approx in total).

Hoffman said of this film that he never considered it a comedy. However, with Bill Murray and George Gaines as major players in the cast, and the concept being marketed as much more of a comedy than it perhaps it would be now - it's easy to make that assumption.I'd argue this film tackles a whole lot more current issues than it was perhaps intended to at the time. Certainly it takes a hard look at misogyny in the industry, and does not gloss over it at all. At it's heart, the film is a bit of Romcom - with Jessica Lange very capably playing the female lead. But the film, largely due to Hoffman's excellent performance and some thought provoking writing, goes much further.Certainly, some of the female characters feel a little poorly drawn at times, but then so do some of the supporting male roles. Murray is predictably excellent and Teri Garr (who I'm afraid I still see as Phoebe's birth mum from Friends!) performs well, before her character gets somewhat side lined as the film moves on.Overall, a really enjoyable film, that makes you think, albeit, not quite as hard as it could do. But that's ok, it is by no means blunt, but nor does it take itself too seriously.

This is another of those movies I'd loved in my youth that I'd hoped my children would enjoy as a 'classic'.It was fun, but it wasn't as much fun as I'd remembered. Dustin Hoffman is great and makes an uncomfortingly convincing unattractive woman, but I'd forgotten - or maybe didn't realise at the time - how mysogynistic a movie it is. The way that Terri Garr's character Sandy is treated is just awful, and there's an unsettling sense that it isn't just an ironic counterpoint to the way that Michael/Tootsie experiences the dismissive way men regarded women in that era.The high point of the movie for me was Jessica Lange. She is vulnerable and just exquisite, and you'd need a heart of stone not to fall in love with her.Did I enjoy watching it again? Yes. Would I watch it again? Not sure. My family certainly wouldn't.By contrast, Mrs Doubtfire - which explores similar subject matter and was only made a decade later - is still fresh as a daisy, and utterly hilarious.

Michael Dorsey is an out of work actor, unable to get work because he is either too small, too old, too young and etc. After final getting to the end of his tether he decides to drag up as a woman and audition for the role of Dorothy Michaels on a daytime soap opera. He not only gets the job but Dorothy becomes a massive hit with the television audiences and studio bosses alike, but success has its drawbacks, it plays havoc with his love life and brings unwanted attentions from members of the same sex!Terrificly entertaining comedy that showcases the best of Dustin Hoffman and brings our attention to a whole ream of quality supporting actors. Feeling very much like an old school type comedy, Tootsie (superbly directed by Sydney Pollack) fuses all the traits needed to hold the audience right to the credits role. What's noticeable now when revisiting the film is just how cheeky the piece is, poking the ribs of soaps, the pedal stool building of celebrities, and of course the bad taste that is left in the mouth because of sexism.....especially in the film industry, yes Tootsie is pretty astute work from Pollack and his team of writers (way too many to mention here).Though very much a blunderbuss vehicle for Hoffman's range (he may be difficult to work with but he's one of his generations best actors), Tootsie's ultimate success is down to the ensemble cast. The twin sexiness that is Jessica Lange and Teri Garr both put in tremendous work as the two women in Michael/Dorothy's life, then there is Bill Murray as Michael's flat mate, Jeff, deadpan comedy gold from the sozzled face master. Sydney Pollack (yes the same), Charles Durning, Dabney Coleman and Geena Davis round out the roll call for excellent performances fleshing the bones of this delightful picture. Not without its bitter sweet moments, or indeed a touch of drama, it's with the comedy that Tootsie is most remembered for, and rightly so. As Dorothy struggles to fight off amorous men, or the simplest thing like hailing a taxi, the laughs come fast and furious in this cross dressing delight. 8/10

I recently saw a clip of Dustin Hoffman talking about this role where he said that after the makeup tests, he'd asked the studio to make him more beautiful and they'd told him it was as good as it got. His reflections then about how it had made him realize how many interesting women he'd never bothered to get to know because of how they looked prompted me to order the movie and watch it again.It's a great movie - worth watching again. For anyone teaching gender studies it's surely a must-use classic.