Ron Carlisle: Take, Tootsie.
Dorothy Michaels: Ron? I have a name it's Dorothy. It's not Tootsie or Toots or Sweetie or Honey or Doll.
Ron Carlisle: Oh, Christ.
Dorothy Michaels: No, just Dorothy. Alan's always Alan, Tom's always Tom and John's always John. I have a name too. It's Dorothy, capital D-O-R-O-T-H-Y.
Michael Dorsey: 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? I just gotta learn to do it without the dress.
Tyler really didn't want to watch Tootsie with me, but agreed to give it half an hour and got hooked.
It had been a long time since I'd seen it, and it is really great. Funny, wonderful acting by Dustin Hoffman, and of course that great song, It Must be Love.
Dustin Hoffman plays a talented actor, Michael Dorsey, who can't get a job because he is too difficult to work with:
Michael: Are you saying that nobody in New York will work with me?
George: No, no, that's too limited. Nobody in Hollywood wants to work with you either. I can't even set you up for a commercial. You played a tomato for 30 seconds. They went a half a day over schedule because you wouldn't sit down.
Michael: Of course. It was illogical.
George: YOU WERE A TOMATO!
He decides to prove to his agent that he is employable by auditioning for a woman's part on a popular soap dressed as a woman, Dorothy Michaels. Convincing everybody that he is a woman, he earns the part, and "Dorothy" becomes a star, known for her ballsy (forgive the pun) and spirited portrayal of hospital worker Emily Kimberly, often going off script and ad-libbing lines:
Dorothy Michaels: Dr Brewster tried to seduce several nurses in this unit, claiming to be the throes of an uncontrollable impulse. Do you know what? I'm going to give every nurse on this floor an electric cattle prod and instruct them to just zap them in his badubies!
Tyler and I both loved that there was no Mrs. Doubtfire-esque montage of Hoffman transforming into a woman. He just appears as Dorothy.
Hijinks occur as Dorothy befriends fellow soap-star Julie (Jessica Lange won an Oscar for the part), and Michael begins to fall for her, while simultaneously trying to juggle a sort-of relationship with another girl, Sandy (Teri Garr). Dorothy/Michael also unintentionally woos several men, much to his own chagrin and that of his roommate George (Bill Murray):
Michael: You should have seen the look on her face when she thought I was a lesbian.
George: "Lesbian"? You just said gay.
Michael: No, no, no -SANDY thinks I'm gay, JULIE thinks I'm a lesbian.
George: I thought Dorothy was supposed to be straight?
Michael: Dorothy IS straight. Tonight Les, the sweetest, nicest man in the world asked me to marry him.
George: A guy named Les wants YOU to marry him?
Michael: No, no, no -he wants to marry Dorothy.
George: Does he know she's a lesbian?
Michael: Dorothy's NOT a lesbian.
George: I know that, does HE know that?
Michael: Know WHAT?
George: That, er, I...I don't know.
Living and working as a woman, Michael also gains perspective. His own flakiness with friend/lover Sandy is mirrored by Julie's poor treatment by her lover/director. As Dolores, he can appreciate the the difficulties women face in a new way:
Ron Carlisle: Why don't you like me?
Dorothy: I don't like the way you treat Julie.
Ron: Oh?
Dorothy: I don't like the way you patronize her, deceive her and lie to her.
Ron: What do you mean?
Dorothy: You want me to go on?
Ron: No, I know what you mean. Look, I never promised Julie I'd be exclusive and not see other women. But I know she doesn't want me to see them, so I lie to her to keep from hurting her.
Dorothy: That's very convenient.
Ron: No, wait a minute. Look at it from my side. See, if a woman wants me to seduce her, I usually do. But then she pretends I promised her something. Then I pretend I did. In the end, I'm the one that's exploited.
Dorothy: Bullshit, Ron! You know what? I understand you a lot better than you think I do.
It's really entertaining and fun. Very enjoyable.
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