Coming Up Sunday, July 22

This week, as we continue our "Summer Blockbuster Sermon Series," we'll turn back the clock and look at one of the biggest hits 30 years ago, the gender-bending comedy, "Tootsie."  Starring Dustin Hoffman as a temperamental actor who has been blacklisted as too much trouble, the film tells the story of Michael Dorsey, who in a fit of anger auditions for a soap opera and lands the role, as a woman, Dorothy Michaels.

Here is one of the DVD release trailers:



Aside from being a ridiculously funny movie, the movie raises a series question underneath its comedy: Is there any benefit to lying?  In "Tootsie," the troublesome actor becomes a better and more cooperative man by seeing the world through a woman's eyes.  He also nearly destroys relationships with his agent (and by implication, the acting community), his roommate (Bill Murray), his good friend (Teri Garr), the woman he falls for (Jessica Lange, who won an Oscar for her performance), and that woman's father, who falls for Dorothy (Charles Durning).

In a drama, most of these relationships would be devastated when the lie was exposed, but in this movie, there is a happy ending.  This reminds me of the prophet Hosea, whose troubled marriage and dysfunctional family -- caused generally by lying and cheating -- offer a perspective on the nation's broken relationship with God -- also generally caused by lying and cheating.