Tootsie (1982)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Michael Dorsey	Dustin Hoffman
Julie Nichols	Jessica Lange
Sandy Lester	Teri Garr	½
Ron Carlisle	Dabney Coleman	½
Rita Marshall	Doris Belack	-
Leslie "Les" Nichols	Charlie Durning	½
Jeff Slater	Bill Murray
George Fields	Sydney Pollack	½
John Van Horn	George Gaynes
April Page	Geena Davis	-

Review

Dustin Hoffman and director/producer Sydney Pollack played with cross-dressing, gender roles and to some degree sexism in this 1982 megahit, the second-highest grossing movie of the year in the United States (after E.T.). The film is not particularly probing or controversial – not by today's standards, and arguably not by 1982's either. At least not beyond the very sight of Dustin Hoffman dressing up as a woman. Tootsie is not an opinionated piece; it's a simple romantic comedy with a creative, fun angle. And it's rather comfortable in that skin, perhaps even complacent. Dustin Hoffman's lead performance is devoted and rather sweet. Although his Dorothy Michaels is an outdated woman from the pre-sexual revolution era, whereas his Michael Dorsey is a modern 40-something of the 1980s, Hoffman still is able to make Dorothy into some kind of throwback feminist icon, if for no other reason than that (s)he speaks up. Some detractors may of course have balked at the idea that the film suggests women needed a man to do just that, but the picture is far too gullible to be accused of such schemes or ambitions.