An out of work actor, perfectionist to the core to his craft which turns out to be the singular cause of his joblessness, desperate to get back to work to help produce a play written by his friend, is scorned by a 'punch in your face' line used by his agent in a moment of heated argument; 'Nobody in Hollywood wants to work with you either!'.
Out of frustration he auditions for the job of a lady nurse in a sitcom in the disguise of a middle aged lady and gets in. What follows is rip-roaringly hilarious, original and out of the world! The lady role played by him becomes the darling of people everywhere and the network channel, without knowing his true identity, wants to run the show as long as the popularity holds.
Things go super duper till a point when he falls in love with a girl acting in the sitcom...and then all hell breaks loose!
He loves 'her' co star but she is not ready to accept it not because she does not love 'her' but because she loves 'her'!
Her dad loves 'her' and even proposes 'her' with a diamond ring!
A male co star wants 'her' and 'her' friend saves 'her' from a certain situation with this guy.
There are even more complications that I have not listed here :-)
Unable to take anymore, 'she' talks to 'her' agent to get 'herself' out of the sitcom but the agent says they both would be tried for 'fraud, impersonation and cheating'.
What 'she' does next is cinematic history!
Shot brilliantly by Sidney Pollack, Dustin Hoffman gives 'Mother of all performances' and passes the ultimate dream of any actor worth his salt (that of playing the role of opposite sex) with flying colours.
Ladies and Gentlemen, TOOTSIE for you!
 |
| Are you saying that nobody in New York will work with me? |
Nominated for TEN Oscars, he did not get the one he so deserved (Best Male Actor) for this probably because he already won one just a couple of years before (Kramer vs Kramer). Not to be denied forever though, he went on to win one more (Rain Man) years later, in what is considered as the Hoffman Decade!
Watched the last half an hour of this movie in a TV channel just an hour back after a long gap, laughing my heart out all the way and thought of sharing the joy with you pronto!
Just a couple of snippets:
A dejected DH is walking in a park. He notices a wannabe artist trying hard to balance himself in one leg, trying harder to lean and pick up a hat kept at a little more than an arm's length. He watches him struggle for a few seconds, walks towards him and then, pushes him down! (this act changes your perspective of the scene just like that!)
When DH meets his lady love and tries to engage her in a honest conversation towards the very end of the film, he utters these lines:
"
But I was a better man with you, as a woman...than I ever was with a woman, as a man. You know what I mean?
"
Classico Maestro!
No comments:
Post a Comment