If Tootsie were made today, it would be absolutely awful. Some hack actor would be yucking it up in the leading role and the entire thing would be based around it's one-joke premise; an out of work actor dresses in drag to finally land a role on a soap opera. It would have been two hours of jokes about a man putting on stockings, with a few lazy subplots tossed in to fill up time. Thankfully, this one was made in 1982, before the "hilarious" idea of a man dressing as a woman became a tired and trite excuse to get a few cheap laughs from the people shameless enough to shell out money for a ticket.
Tootsie is a sign of how far we've fallen, because thirty years ago a film like this was made and was actually good. Yes, it's relatively light entertainment, but it's entertaining and so enjoyable and filled with good humor, life and, most of all, heart. That's where it really shines and what the difference comes down to here; this movie has so much heart that it's overflowing with it. Things don't feel staged and the jokes don't feel like they are being forced down the audience's throat; sure the premise is hard to buy, but once you move past it there is so much to gain here.
They set up the premise and then the rest of the film happens organically, as opposed to one ridiculously staged and flat joke after another. The care that they take into establishing Michael Dorsey and Dorothy Michaels as their own separate characters is mightily impressive. When I was watching Dorothy on screen, I felt like I was watching a real woman, not watching Michael in drag. Part of this can be attributed to the care and depth of the script and of Sydney Pollack's direction, but of course a lot of it must be credited to Dustin Hoffman's masterful performance.
This is a whacky premise, but where the brilliance of it comes is how everyone, especially Hoffman, plays it completely straight. You never doubt that he is fully absorbed into this character, as Michael Dorsey is as well. There's never a wink at the audience or a tongue in the cheek, and that's what makes it so enjoyable and good-hearted. They couldn't make one like this these days, so I'm very glad they got one done before it was too late. A very enjoyable picture.
Tootsie is a sign of how far we've fallen, because thirty years ago a film like this was made and was actually good. Yes, it's relatively light entertainment, but it's entertaining and so enjoyable and filled with good humor, life and, most of all, heart. That's where it really shines and what the difference comes down to here; this movie has so much heart that it's overflowing with it. Things don't feel staged and the jokes don't feel like they are being forced down the audience's throat; sure the premise is hard to buy, but once you move past it there is so much to gain here.
They set up the premise and then the rest of the film happens organically, as opposed to one ridiculously staged and flat joke after another. The care that they take into establishing Michael Dorsey and Dorothy Michaels as their own separate characters is mightily impressive. When I was watching Dorothy on screen, I felt like I was watching a real woman, not watching Michael in drag. Part of this can be attributed to the care and depth of the script and of Sydney Pollack's direction, but of course a lot of it must be credited to Dustin Hoffman's masterful performance.
This is a whacky premise, but where the brilliance of it comes is how everyone, especially Hoffman, plays it completely straight. You never doubt that he is fully absorbed into this character, as Michael Dorsey is as well. There's never a wink at the audience or a tongue in the cheek, and that's what makes it so enjoyable and good-hearted. They couldn't make one like this these days, so I'm very glad they got one done before it was too late. A very enjoyable picture.