If there’s one thing that Michael Dorsey is correct about, it’s that when life has you pinned down, it’s up to each of us to create our own opportunities! Tootsie blends the bootstrap mentality of the 80’s with a growing cultural awareness of transgender ideas and the realization that women have been misunderstood and marginalized for too long, and somehow crafts a heartfelt, though at times extremely simplistic, story that feels close enough to a triumph for most audiences to be satisfied by.
I picked up a copy of this for my shelf like a year ago and hadn’t found a night to get excited about watching it, but in an effort to switch up genres and get away from 90’s crime stories for the evening, I figured this would be a nice change of pace, and I was right! Apparently I’m the last person to realize that an all star cast, great director, and wild premise like this would be such a hit - Hoffman goes to another level in this! Jessica Lange is always great, but Teri Garr was iconic, and the two screams that she lets out throughout the movie fucking killed me 😂
I like a grounded Bill Murray! He usually goes down like a cup of hot piss for me, but he was fine here lol. His tone in the near-rape scene got iffy, but I’m glad he didn’t do 5% more and tip this into real homophobic/rape apologist territory (got pretty close).
Pollack maybe giving himself a top 5 director self-inclusion? Not overdone or showy at all, and really draws your attention to these scenes with lower stakes to get into some of the more direct themes of the movie like what gives (or doesn’t give) someone the right to deceive others to advance their own career, what it means to be unwanted for who you really are, and how the structures of power that dictate our lives are make us fit our true selves into boxes to make the world accept us. Great stuff from a movie that’s at the same time still a “haha look at the guy dressed like a lady” movie. This deception by the movie itself lends credit to the idea that sometimes the truth has to be slipped into our field of view under less-than-true pretenses to effectively shift our paradigms or ideals.
Loved the soundtrack as well! It wasn’t something that I would necessarily turn on in the car. But it felt of-the-era and set a great mood. Sometimes you just need a steady had to keep the vibes up!
This felt like a perfect pairing for Cruising… a well known straight (and little) actor exploring LGBT spaces under under a false guise, discovering things about themselves that they weren’t able to come to full grips with until opening themselves up to another way of life, and the lesson learned that self-actualization can be possible if you are willing to integrate your shadow into your outward facing persona. Jessica Lange asking to borrow clothes rhymes thematically with Karen Allen putting on the cop sunglasses… there’s something deeper that these characters have gained that we don’t get to fully see, but it’s there for them to explore once the credits roll and the audience leaves. Again, great stuff for a movie that feels like it’s one glance at a friend in class away from laughing at this story instead of laughing with it at the absurdity of life.
Recommend! Go in blind, don’t prep others, just let this movie happen and I’m pretty sure you’ll find something to enjoy 👍
If there’s one thing that Michael Dorsey is correct about, it’s that when life has you pinned down, it’s up to each of us to create our own opportunities! Tootsie blends the bootstrap mentality of the 80’s with a growing cultural awareness of transgender ideas and the realization that women have been misunderstood and marginalized for too long, and somehow crafts a heartfelt, though at times extremely simplistic, story that feels close enough to a triumph for most audiences to be satisfied by.
I picked up a copy of this for my shelf like a year ago and hadn’t found a night to get excited about watching it, but in an effort to switch up genres and get away from 90’s crime stories for the evening, I figured this would be a nice change of pace, and I was right! Apparently I’m the last person to realize that an all star cast, great director, and wild premise like this would be such a hit - Hoffman goes to another level in this! Jessica Lange is always great, but Teri Garr was iconic, and the two screams that she lets out throughout the movie fucking killed me 😂
I like a grounded Bill Murray! He usually goes down like a cup of hot piss for me, but he was fine here lol. His tone in the near-rape scene got iffy, but I’m glad he didn’t do 5% more and tip this into real homophobic/rape apologist territory (got pretty close).
Pollack maybe giving himself a top 5 director self-inclusion? Not overdone or showy at all, and really draws your attention to these scenes with lower stakes to get into some of the more direct themes of the movie like what gives (or doesn’t give) someone the right to deceive others to advance their own career, what it means to be unwanted for who you really are, and how the structures of power that dictate our lives are make us fit our true selves into boxes to make the world accept us. Great stuff from a movie that’s at the same time still a “haha look at the guy dressed like a lady” movie. This deception by the movie itself lends credit to the idea that sometimes the truth has to be slipped into our field of view under less-than-true pretenses to effectively shift our paradigms or ideals.
Loved the soundtrack as well! It wasn’t something that I would necessarily turn on in the car. But it felt of-the-era and set a great mood. Sometimes you just need a steady had to keep the vibes up!
This felt like a perfect pairing for Cruising… a well known straight (and little) actor exploring LGBT spaces under under a false guise, discovering things about themselves that they weren’t able to come to full grips with until opening themselves up to another way of life, and the lesson learned that self-actualization can be possible if you are willing to integrate your shadow into your outward facing persona. Jessica Lange asking to borrow clothes rhymes thematically with Karen Allen putting on the cop sunglasses… there’s something deeper that these characters have gained that we don’t get to fully see, but it’s there for them to explore once the credits roll and the audience leaves. Again, great stuff for a movie that feels like it’s one glance at a friend in class away from laughing at this story instead of laughing with it at the absurdity of life.
Recommend! Go in blind, don’t prep others, just let this movie happen and I’m pretty sure you’ll find something to enjoy 👍
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