Written by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning and Bill Murray
U.S., 1982
A struggling actor disguises himself as a woman in order to snag a part on a soap opera and ends up taking the nation by storm. Meanwhile he juggles romances with his beautiful co-star who doesn’t know he’s a man and his acting student who doesn’t know he’s dressing as a woman. He’s also got his hands full keeping lecherous men off of him and sparring with his misogynistic director.
This is one of those movies I either saw all of or part of at a young age, but I remember so little that I allowed myself to watch it again for Romancefest. I’m glad I did. For instance, I totally forgot Bill Murray has one of his best roles in a supporting part as the writer Hoffman lives with. Also, although there might be some dated jokes, in general, the subject matter is perfect for the climate in Hollywood today. Of course, that’s because everyone involved in the production already knew what Hollywood was up to, not least of all Hoffman himself, who has had some accusers. Still, it’s a funny rom-com that isn’t content to just rest on the cross-dressing gimmick – in fact, Hoffman’s idea to cross dress is handled in just one cut without any kind of montage or waste of time at all, freeing up more time for a wide variety of interesting supporting characters who are well drawn and memorably cast.
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