Tootsie (1982), Sydney Pollack
3/5
This is a really fun, cheesy and warm film. Well before Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Tootsie captures the changes in gender and sexism during the 1980s. It not only demonstrates the difficulties of being a woman in the post feminist era, but also the difficulty of men finding their own new roles. Dustin Hoffman gives a great performance and this follows his trend of his early work focusing on the changes to gender and family dynamics like Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). One fault that I would place is the notion that in order for a woman to be strong, the film portrays it as a masculine idea of aggression and strength. However this is a minor issue as Michael/ Dorothy depicts a more integrated idea of masculine and feminine traits over the course of the film. Overall this is a really funny film with some poignant moments and interesting gender, and sexuality issues.
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