"Taxi! Taxi! TAXI!"
A funny comedy in itself, 'Tootsie' manages to transcend it's premise and include the more heartfelt themes that many other gimmicky movies lack. Done wrong it could have been like 'Jack and Jill', but it's got a little heart in there too, and not the kind of heart that they talk about in 'The Player'.
It works as a story because Dustin Hoffman manages to play both his male and female roles with enough characterful distinction and for each of them to carry a scene without having to rely on the movies' central gimmick.
Of course there's that famous scene where we just cut to a big crowd of New Yorkers, and the camera slowly zooms in to Tootsie. We don't get a dressing up montage or any shots of him putting on makeup, we simply cut from him having the idea to a fully formed character, walking along a street with all the other real people, and the viewer is left to join the dots. This helps her to be taken more seriously as her own person, and Hoffman often talks of her as if she's her own real person - "no... no, I don't think Tootsie would wear that" etc.
She's also a good character because she's funny and outspoken without being shrill, and she has opinions and emotions that go beyond keeping her male identity a secret.
The film is pretty funny, and I especially liked the scenes with Bill Murray as the funny flatmate (he was born to be the perfect "funny flatmate" really). It also manages to make a point about sexism, and joke about the soaps of the 80s. The romance woven throughout is also a touching one with a good central difficulty, though I felt that the dad falling for Tootsie side plot was a little tacked on and unnecessary. I'm pretty sure this is the best 80s film I've ever seen about crossdressing though. Oh and I like the slightly open ending.
It works as a story because Dustin Hoffman manages to play both his male and female roles with enough characterful distinction and for each of them to carry a scene without having to rely on the movies' central gimmick.
Of course there's that famous scene where we just cut to a big crowd of New Yorkers, and the camera slowly zooms in to Tootsie. We don't get a dressing up montage or any shots of him putting on makeup, we simply cut from him having the idea to a fully formed character, walking along a street with all the other real people, and the viewer is left to join the dots. This helps her to be taken more seriously as her own person, and Hoffman often talks of her as if she's her own real person - "no... no, I don't think Tootsie would wear that" etc.
She's also a good character because she's funny and outspoken without being shrill, and she has opinions and emotions that go beyond keeping her male identity a secret.
The film is pretty funny, and I especially liked the scenes with Bill Murray as the funny flatmate (he was born to be the perfect "funny flatmate" really). It also manages to make a point about sexism, and joke about the soaps of the 80s. The romance woven throughout is also a touching one with a good central difficulty, though I felt that the dad falling for Tootsie side plot was a little tacked on and unnecessary. I'm pretty sure this is the best 80s film I've ever seen about crossdressing though. Oh and I like the slightly open ending.
Tootsie: 67.4