Tootsie
1982 Directed by Sydney Pollack
Synopsis
What do you get when you cross a hopelessly straight starving actor with a dynamite red sequined dress? You get America's hottest new actress.
An unemployed actor with a reputation for being difficult disguises himself as a woman to get a role in a soap opera.
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Still manages to be one of the funniest comedies I've ever seen and one of my favorites.
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This is a wonderfully well acted film that I think gets thrown into the conversation of the "Greatest American Films of All Time", because there is so little else around the time of this release that could be represented there.
I want to be positive because I really did like this film. Here is what I liked the most. First off, like I said, it is very well acted. Dustin Hoffman spends more than half of his on screen time as a man dresses (and acting like) a woman. He does an amazing job of creating various characters and sharing personality traits between them. Jessica Lange is also very good as the young and impressionable actress that sort of idealized…
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Possibly my favourite comedy ever. The scene where Hoffman walks down the stairs, absolutely priceless.
'For I am not Emily Kimberly, the daughter of Dwayne and Alma Kimberly. No, I'm not. I'm Edward Kimberly, the recluse brother of my sister Anthea, Edward Kimberly, who has finally vindicated his sister's good name'.
I'm in tears practically everytime I see this scene.
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Before it was shown on TCM, Drew Barrymore called it "A perfect film". I wouldn't go that far; but it's still a good film that any film fan should watch. Not much to say about it though. It has a great performance from Hoffman, a hilarious script, but nothing really makes it resonate with me as it has with others. But, I'd definitely watch it again.
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A brilliantly-scripted, very old-fashioned comedy about a frustrated actor and full-time chauvinist (Dustin Hoffman) disguising himself as a woman to land a part in a soap, then falling for co-star Jessica Lange. It's incredibly witty, slyly satirical in both its take on sexual politics and modern entertainment, and positively reeks of greasepaint, recalling such fine movies about the thespian trade as Twentieth Century, A Double Life and John Osborne's The Entertainer (the poster of which is tacked above Hoffman's bed). The film gambles on a rather conventional trip to the country (with one notable exception) to affirm the central relationship, but pulls it off magnificently, the diversion so well-handled that it draws comparison (perhaps intentionally) with my favourite film of…
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"...Does Jeff know?" 30 years may have passed since Tootsie was made, but that line and countless others in the screenplay by Larry Gelbart - co-creator of M*A*S*H - have not aged one bit.
Hoffman's performance is tremendous, and surely both he and the movie would have won Oscars if it wasn't for Ben Kingsley and Gandhi. But Jessica Lange (who did win an Academy Award), Charles Durning, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman and Bill Murray (who improvised all his lines) are by no means outshone by the leading (wo)man - to the credit of director Sydney Pollack (who was badgered by Hoffman into playing Dorothy Michaels' agent George Fields).
Pollack said later: "No one ever laughed during the shooting of any scenes of the film. It's only funny because of its story structure." And for that, we should commend Gelbart as highly as the cast and director.
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Possibly my favourite comedy ever. The scene where Hoffman walks down the stairs, absolutely priceless.
'For I am not Emily Kimberly, the daughter of Dwayne and Alma Kimberly. No, I'm not. I'm Edward Kimberly, the recluse brother of my sister Anthea, Edward Kimberly, who has finally vindicated his sister's good name'.
I'm in tears practically everytime I see this scene.
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Overall it's a fun film but what makes it timeless its Dustin Hoffman's performance. Honestly forgot it was Dustin and not a woman on several occasions.
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A brilliantly-scripted, very old-fashioned comedy about a frustrated actor and full-time chauvinist (Dustin Hoffman) disguising himself as a woman to land a part in a soap, then falling for co-star Jessica Lange. It's incredibly witty, slyly satirical in both its take on sexual politics and modern entertainment, and positively reeks of greasepaint, recalling such fine movies about the thespian trade as Twentieth Century, A Double Life and John Osborne's The Entertainer (the poster of which is tacked above Hoffman's bed). The film gambles on a rather conventional trip to the country (with one notable exception) to affirm the central relationship, but pulls it off magnificently, the diversion so well-handled that it draws comparison (perhaps intentionally) with my favourite film of…
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Dustin Hoffman, a brilliant method actor, plays Michael Dorsey, a brilliant method actor, who pretends to be Dorothy Michaels, a female method actor, in order to land the part of a female character in a soap – and still the movie manages to not implode under layers of layers of meta, and even not feel meta-ish at all! Color me impressed!
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I feel like I'm about to perform sacrilege but I was a little underwhelmed by this film. Perhaps it was carrying the burden of over 30 years of expectation but I found it a little meh. Some great moments and wonderful performances from some of the cast but overall it felt a little stale to me. Would happily watch it again, it just didn't blow my mind.
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Dustin Hoffman, impresionante.
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This is a wonderfully well acted film that I think gets thrown into the conversation of the "Greatest American Films of All Time", because there is so little else around the time of this release that could be represented there.
I want to be positive because I really did like this film. Here is what I liked the most. First off, like I said, it is very well acted. Dustin Hoffman spends more than half of his on screen time as a man dresses (and acting like) a woman. He does an amazing job of creating various characters and sharing personality traits between them. Jessica Lange is also very good as the young and impressionable actress that sort of idealized…
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I was expecting something ground-breaking but found it to be pretty average. I was going to give it 2 and a half stars but it gets an extra half for the Edward Kimberly scene because I almost laughed an eye out.
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A breath of fresh air. Who would have thought you could make a comedy about cross-dressing and play it entirely real? No cheap jokes, just good writing and acting.