Tootsie (1982)

Directed by Sydney Pollack. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Dabney Coleman, Teri Garr, Bill Murray, George Gaynes, Doris Belack, Charles Durning, Sydney Pollack, Geena Davis. [R]

Desperate out-of-work actor Michael Dorsey (Hoffman), so difficult to share the stage/camera with that no one wants to work with him, decides to impersonate a middle-aged woman and try out for a role on a soap opera. Not only does she land the part, but he discovers that he’s a better person when pretending to be an invented character. Hit comedy is far from perfect—there are too few variations to its one-joke concept, and the more serious moments tend to turn mushy despite the best efforts of a game cast—but lands enough big and small laughs along the way to rate as an enjoyably easygoing experience. Hoffman is in fine form and Lange’s soft, subtle work nabbed her a Supporting Actress Oscar, but the scene-stealing work is mostly reserved for Gaynes’ has-been-but-never-was soap veteran (“Does Jeff know?”), Michael’s dry-witted agent (played by director Pollack), and Murray, who went uncredited as Hoffman’s roommate, and lands a zinger with almost every line he delivers. Those tunes by Dave Grusin with Alan & Marilyn Bergman lyrics (“Tootsie,” “It Might Be You”) and the accompanying montages are almost unbearably corny. Later adapted into a stage musical.

75/100