TOOTSIE
In an era of mind-numbingly BAD comedies, it is again SO refreshing to visit the characters & complications that inhabit Sydney Pollack's marvelous 1982 film Tootsie. Starring Dustin Hoffman in a tour de force performance as unemployed NY actor Michael Dorsey who changes into Dorothy Michaels to land a part on a daytime soap opera, this movie never ceases to entertain with its witty observations about gender bending for a personal cause that ends up being quite a lesson in growing up as a individual. Jessica Lange, Bill Murray, and Dabney Coleman are just a few of the delighful cast members who get pulled into the comic vortex here with alternately hilarious and heart-warming results as Hoffman proves yet again why he is such a chameleon of an actor. The succession of events that propel the film from about 3/4 of the way to the delightful climax during a "live" broadcast are simply small miracles of acting to behold! Rent it in lieu of any number of horrible recent releases and see!