No 62 - Tootsie

Billy's review
Rating: 4.5

How Tootsie made the list I’ll never know. It’s not that this gender-swapping, mildly titillating flick is a dull affair; it’s just there’s no particular hook past the obvious ‘struggling actor turns successful actress and falls in love with a female co-worker’ draw.

Admittedly Dustin Hoffman puts in a riveting shift, capturing both the feminine and masculine essences of his dual personalities with gusto. Likewise, Bill Murray makes light work of his supporting role as the dry-witted room-mate struggling to come to terms with Hoffman’s fake-bosomed transformation.

Besides these obvious stand outs, the rest of the cast struggles to add depth to a threadbare yarn - Teri Garr’s performance as the hapless Sandy Lester is particularly insipid. What’s most grating is that instead of exploring the fragilities of gender in the modern world, Tootsie merely skates around the edges.

What could have been an insightful articulation of human nature, sadly turns into a meek romantic comedy.

Su's review
Rating: 6.5

Tootsie is quintessentially 80’s, not like the Goonies or the Brat Pack Club flicks, but in a way it was new territory for the mainstream. In an era where women were fighting for equality and breaking those glass ceilings this movie was a bit conflicting.

It was the first mainstream take on cross-dressing. Not since Victor/Victoria or even Cabaret had there been a Transvestite on the mainstream silver screen. And the strength that Emily Kimberly projected against skivvy men was quite relevant in the time of red suits with massive shoulder pads. But the misogynistic message that only a man could do a better job as a woman than a woman could was patronizing.

But I take this movie for what it is: the only movie that Bill Murray is not funny in. but an overall 80’s classic.