Dragged Into It

Recently some of my more faithful blog readers have advised me that I need to review more of the “classics.” Well to acquiesce, I recently watched the 1982 favorite of many, Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray. Many consider this one of the defining roles of Hoffman’s then somewhat young career. The premise of the movie is that Hoffman dons blouse and heels in an attempt to pull his way out of unemployment (did I just hear a plan for ending the recession?) as an actress. Even though the plot was did not supremely pique my interest, I felt it my duty to see such a popular film.


First of all I am hesitant to categorize this film. As strange as it may sound, I feel that the genre that it may best fit under would be romantic comedy, which brings me to my first problem with the film. Call me immature or simple, but some of the strange relationship dynamics kind of weirded me out. The fact that a man dressed as a woman had a crush on a female whose dad tries to propose to said woman while yet another male costar tries to make a move on the man dressed as a woman who is trying to hold a friendship with another woman together who thinks that there is more than just friendship after the two spent the night together from when he was a man didn’t sit well with me. While even though in one scene they are trying to recap the whole scenario and it seems quite comical, as for driving the plot, certain points become a little awkward.

Don’t get me wrong, Dustin Hoffman is great. His female portrayal is very convincing and not nearly as frightening as John Travolta’s in Harispray. Another part that I got hung up on was the differentiation between Dorothy Michaels (Hoffman’s character as a female) and Emily Kimberly (her character on the soap opera). When Hoffman is trying to land the role he make a commotion in an attempt to grab the director’s attention. The director, seeing through his ploy, asks if it was authentic or if it was an attempt to audition. This exemplifies how I felt about the Michaels-Kimberly relationship. They were one in the same person. The woman Hoffman acted as of screen seemed to be the same he tried to be off screen. Had the two had much different personalities, I would have even been more impressed with Hoffman’s performance.

I don’t want to be all down on this movie. I was still amused and entertained. One of my favorite aspects was Bill Murray’s character as Hoffman’s roommate. He supplied a couple of great lines that recognize how strange some of the situations are in actuality. Hoffman should be applauded for his performance and insofar as his performance goes I can understand (don’t necessarily agree, but understand) why people deem this a classic. Because of the movie in its entirety, I would just say that it is an average movie with some impressive acting.



2.5 stars out of 5.

 
 
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