Starring: Dustin Hoffman
Director: Sydney Pollack
It's been a long time since we've had such an uproarious comedy and such a wonderful, poignant drama. Dustin Hoffman's portrayal is no in-drag impersonation but a subtle, well-conceived comedy coup.
He plays Michael Dorsey, an actor who knows he's terrific but can't get a job. When his agent, played with great comic flair by the film's director, Sydney Pollack, tells him he is unemployable, Hoffman dresses as a woman and gets a job playing a tough, liberation-minded administrator of a hospital in a television soap opera.
Screenwriters Larry Gelbert, Murray Schisgal, and uncredited Elaine May, have penned a yarn that is tasteful, insightful, and hilarious.
Jessica Lang won Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Bill Murray appears unbilled. Film debut of Geena Davis. (116 mins.).
My Rating: ****
