Tootsie (1982)

 

Tootsie

The good streak of great 1982 movies continues with “Tootsie”, a romantic comedy from a time where it was possible to make them intelligent and fun, dramatic and sweet, all at the same time.

Dustin Hoffman is an actor, Michael Dorsey, out of work. He has got a, well earned, reputation for being difficult to work with and his opportunities have dried up. It takes his agent, George Fields (Sydney Pollack, who also directed the movie), great effort to get this through to him. Even playing a tomato he cannot do without arguing with the director.

Dorsey lives together with aspiring (but way too unconventional) scriptwriter, Jeff (Bill Murray), and sees a lot of, usually unemployed, actor friends. One of them, Sandy (Teri Garr) is trying to get a role in a soap opera but is refused for not being stern enough. In desperation, Michael dresses up as a woman to try his luck at the audition… and gets the part.

Now follows a strange and increasingly complicated double life where Michael Dorsey juggles a romantic relationship with Sandy, another with fellow cast member, Julie (Jessica Lange), and a third with Julie’s father, Les (Charles Durning) while successfully becoming a star on the soap as Dorothy Michaels. In her character, Michael is asserting against the director and the male cast and that wins over the viewers, especially the female ones, and Dorothy Michaels becomes an icon. The only ones in on the scam are Jeff and George and both are really worried.

“Tootsie” has at least three themes going. The most obvious is the gender switch, which is also the source of most of the comedy. It is seriously hilarious, probably the funniest gender switch role since “Some like it hot”, but it also tries to drive some points on how it is for a man to experience what it is like to be a woman in a male dominated world. This is way before MeeToo and the men in the business have no restraint.

The second theme is the romantic element. It is of course closely linked to the first and is what makes it a romantic comedy. Michael as Dorothy is admonishing exactly the treatment, he himself is subjecting Sandy to. Which is both funny and terribly sad. Or would have been if Teri Garr had not been insanely funny in her own right.

The third element is the surprise and may at first feel like a clash, but I think is what makes the whole thing work. This is a social-realistic element of unemployment and the humiliation the actors must go though to make ends meet. This could easily have been rather hypocritical, considering all these suffering actors are played by A-list actors, but there is a serious tone here, so familiar from the seventies and early eighties social-realist TV, that we buy it. As Michael says: “I don’t believe in Hell. I believe in unemployment, but I do not believe in Hell.” Getting a job, any job, is serious business for these people. This could easily be a party killer, but it benefits the movie in two ways. It provides the motive for Michael to do what he does and it works as a frame for the hilarity. Funny stuff is only funny if played against something serious. The Marx Brothers were only that funny because they played up against Margaret Dumont and “Tootsie” is only as fun as it is because of its recognizable reality. Something modern comedies, especially romantic comedies, have largely forgotten.

“Tootsie” is a feast of great performances. Dustin Hofman is very convincing, both in his serious parts and in the comedic ones. His usually hyped persona fits brilliantly for the role. Bill Murray is unusually subdued and it is Sydney Pollack’s achievement that he prevents him from stealing the scenes. He is funny, but restrained, just firing off his usual VERY dry jokes. The real star for me though is Teri Garr. She is actually stealing her scenes and a lot of the comedy is due to her. For a supporting actress she has a mighty impact on the movie and had I not watched this movie (multiple times) before, I would have rooted for her. She is a far more amusing character than Julie.

“Tootsie” is a favorite of mine. It is one of the best gender switch comedies ever and one I do not get tired of watching. It avoids getting moralizing, but also evades the silliness swamp of the opposite ditch. Keeping that balance is a major achievement of this movie.

Favourite scene: Les and Van Horn (George Gaynes) realizing Dorothy is a man. Priceless.

Very highly recommended.