Life's A Drag (Tootsie (DVD))

Member Name: stoffy

Product:	Tootsie (DVD)
Date:	27/06/03 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very entertaining, great performance by Hoffman

Disadvantages: bit dated, formulaic in parts

Bad actors, alcoholism, transvestitism... Still, enough about the wrap party for the last series of ‘Take The High Road’, this op’s all about ‘Tootsie’, one of the most memorable films of the 1980’s.

Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is an actor, who spends his days and night scraping a living being an acting coach and waiter, awaiting his big break. However, because of his abrasiveness and generally explosive self-opinions in auditions, the moment when he gets to see his name up in lights seems ever further away.

After one of his tutees, Sandy (Teri Garr) fails an audition for a part in a soap, and his agent (Sydney Pollack, who also directed the film) passes him over for another role he wants, he resorts to desperate measures in order to attempt to raise the $8000 needed to stage his flatmate’s (played by Bill Murray) play, in which he has been given the staring role.

This desperate measure consists of assuming the guise of Dorothy Stephens, a middle-aged spinster actress. After a gutsy audition for the role which Sandy, (with whom he had just had a one-night-stand with) was rejected for, Dorothy is suddenly thrusted into the limelight as a major character in a daytime hospital soap.

Negotiating patronising male directors and co-workers, Michael finds himself falling in love with his co-star Julie (Jessica Lange), who only knows Michael in his drag form. On the few occasions when she comes across Michael as his normal self outside of work, she spurns his advances, a complete contrast to her relationship with Dorothy which develops into a deep friendship.

As Michael becomes more deeply involved into the lie of Dorothy as (s)he becomes more famous, he finds it increasingly hard to keep his feelings for Julie under control and also hiding his alter-ego from Sandy, who is still hopeful of a relationship with him. After Julie’s father tries to woo and propose to Dorothy, Mic
hael takes drastic action to make his true feelings for Julie known and to be rid of his second skin...

‘Tootsie’ is quite simplistic in its plot once the cross-dressing is removed from the equation; boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy tries to win girl etc. However, it manages to be fresh and entertaining, if perhaps a little cheesy and predictable twenty years down the line, thanks to Hoffman’s boundless energy and the generally consistent pace of the script. There are also some funny exchanges, particularly between Michael and his agent and the romantic scenes only dip into saccharine territory once or twice.

Hoffman plays a difficult part extremely well, and won an Oscar for his role, even though I still think ‘Rainman’ is arguably his finest screen performance. The supporting cast also put in some good showings, although Julie’s two-dimensionalism makes it difficult for Lange to add any real depth to the character. Arguably the whole scenario is a little too far-fetched as well, although doesn’t generally cross over into the boundaries of being hideously ridiculous.

Another negative is arguably its mixed messages about women. Whilst on the one-hand it tries to show workplace misogyny at its very worse, the leading women characters are portrayed as being weak and reliant on the men who treat them so badly.

That said, it’s certainly worth investigating for any 80’s fans or for people looking for a no-brainer kind of film, and can be picked up nice and cheaply on video.

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