Man plays a man playing a woman playing a woman

Tootsie (1982)

Directed by Sydney Pollack this film stars Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr and Bill Murray. A New York actor finds that he is so hard to work with no one will hire him so he poses as a woman to gain a part in a soap.

The plot of this film is fairly standard rom-com fare but the man posing as woman gimmick puts a nice spin on things and allows for at least a superficial look at the differences between the genders. There are some pretty funny moments, especially the scene where all is revealed and the film does a good job of staying clear of what could have been the easy, more offensive humour. Bill Murray being in the film is a nice surprise but he is a little underused, Hoffman does a good job in the lead roles and carries the film.

4/5