Can't really say I'm the biggest fan of George Roy Hill's directing approach (even though he won an Oscar for this movie) but there's still usually very little wrong with his movies.

Reason why I'm just not the biggest George Roy Hill fan is because his movie don't really have a very distinctive or good style to them. Throughout this movie I constantly kept wondering how much better this movie still could had been, if another director would had done it instead. For instance a director like Martin Scorsese would have been perfect and could had turned this movie into a true masterpiece.

But really, I still can't claim there's an awful lot wrong with this movie. It features a good story, nice characters and some great performances by its cast.

Even though Paul Newman gets first billed, it really is a Robert Redford movie. He plays the true main character of the movie and has by far the most amount of screen time in it. He also truly gives away one fine performance, as does Paul Newman of course. But has Newman ever disappointed in anything? I don't think so! The movie further more also stars Robert Shaw, as the movie its 'villain'. I actually at first didn't even recognized it was him, he looks and sounds totally different than usual, which is always the mark of a great actor and performance.

What makes the movie further more special and great to watch, in my opinion, is because it's a period piece. The movie is set in the '30's but got shot in the '70's. So what's so special about that? Well, we all known the modern movies set in the '30's and some might have seen some actual genre movies, done back in the '30's but I believe that '70's movie set in the '30's are a sort of rarity. It also has a totally different approach and vibe to it than a modern genre attempt has. It's focusing less on the visual aspects and it doesn't constantly attempts to impress you with any of its period costumes and set design. I don't know, guess I thought this was a refreshing thing to see and it made me really appreciate the movie all the more.

But of course there also really isn't such a thing as a solid movie without a solid story to it. It luckily is the sort of story that leaves room for some fun, next to its more dramatic and serious developments. It's a nicely buildup story and its very entertaining to see how the plot slowly thickens and more and more different characters start to get involved with it. There are multiple effective and interesting developments in it because of that, especially when the con starts to get more and more elaborate, up to a point that the viewers themselves don't even known who- and what things are part of the big con. Might sound confusing but it really isn't though. It's a pleasant movie to watch, that might have a far fetched story but it never feels like a completely unrealistic or ridicules one to watch.

Simply a great movie to watch!

8/10

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(Review originally written at 23 December 2007)

It's OK to laugh at these sort of 'simple, stupid', comedies every now and then, even if it has Leslie Nielsen in it. This movie has some great of these 'simple, stupid' laughs in it but the story really restrains this movie from being a true good or recommendable one.

The story is so bad that the movie becomes real painful to watch in parts! At times you really don't know what is really happening on screen or why, just because it doesn't make sense. It really lacked a real clear and good main plot-line.

The movie also tries to spoof way too many movies, just for the sake of spoofing. Most of the time these spoofing moments really don't fit within the movie and seem to be put in completely randomly. It was as if the director was making a sport out of it how many movies he could spoof within one movie.

It's of course also a very easy thing to spoof the spy-genre. In that regard this movie has all the jokes in it you would most likely expect.

Of course most comical moments and dialog are very lame. But often they are so lame and stupid that you can't help but laugh at them. So no matter how bad this movie actually is, it's still a movie that can and most likely will make you laugh, with also some cameo's from people such as non other then Ray Charles and Hulk Hogan.

4/10

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(Review originally written at 10 May 2006)

The greatest strength of the movie is in the fact that the main character is being played by a well known and much acclaimed actor. Hoffman was nominated several times for an Oscar before this movie and even won one in 1979 for his role in "Kramer vs. Kramer". This is not the sort of role you would expect an Oscar winning actor to appear in. All the more reason why this movie works surprising as well as brilliant. Hoffman prevents the movie from getting silly and adds some seriousness to the movie, even though the story itself is of course still quite silly on its own.

But it is of course more than just the leading actor that makes this movie work. The movie is also very well and clever written, unlike most comedies that are being released today. The movie doesn't rely on visual or comical situations but more on the cleverly written and directed situations and also the more realistic situations. "Tootsie" is a silly movie but not an unlikely one. Movies like this one and others like these from the same period are the reason why the '80's are often regarded as the golden decade for comedies.

It's not only Hoffman that acts fine in this movie. Besides the Oscar nomination for Hoffman, it was Jessica Lange who actually got to take the statue home with her. Also nominated was Teri Garr (perhaps still best known for her role in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind") for her role in this movie. Other fine well known actors in this movie are Charles Durning, Lynne Thigpen, Sydney Pollack himself Geena Davis in her first movie role and Bill Murray (I had totally forgotten he also was in this movie, until my recent last viewing).

The movie was actually nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture, which is a real big achievement for a comedy. No way this could ever happen this present day, especially not with the sort of comedies that are being made now.

But still there are some issues that I have with this movie. First of all this movie carries the curse of almost every '80's movie, it has a typical '80's soundtrack which sounds incredibly dreadful now this present day. The movie could had also used some more style on its own. It's an overall pretty formulaic made and even predictable movie that still works fine and powerful enough thanks to its clever story and professional actors. Sydney Pollack never really has been my favorite director. Don't get me wrong, he did a good job with this movie and its story but his movies always feel like they are lacking something, mostly in its style and perhaps also pace.

All in all this movie surely will become and maybe already is a comedy classic, mainly thanks to the surprising Hoffman and the well written script.

8/10

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