Our whole family loves this movie. One of the key lines for Michael and possibly his first step forward, is when he tells Bill Murray's character about how Dorothy handled a touchy situation during the shooting of a scene. When he finishes the story, he takes a second to reflect, and confesses: "I think Dorothy's smarter than I am."
The big blossoming of Michael "into Dorothy" can be seen in that hysterical scene with Pollack, where he sums up that night from hell, from baby sitting Amy through to the engagement ring, and the incident with Gaines. He winds it up by saying: "These are good people, George, these are good people." Followed by Pollack's stunned reaction because, he observes, Michael has never cared about people before. This is followed later by Michael's meeting with Les, to return the ring, and to honestly explain himself. Part of that confession is that he did it for the money (an objective that a man like Les can comprehend), and that he didn't mean to hurt anyone. At this point, he is a mensch, and he means it. Though we don't get any scenes with Sandy after her explosion, we can note that she leaves that apartment with a different air than the one she's worn through most of the movie. And we know she'll be in Jeff's play. We can't know what happens during the rehearsal and production; but if Michael has shifted, and shows true contrition; and Sandy of course, by this time, knows why Dorothy came to be, we can imagine a kind of detente between them: Michael is building bridges that were both burned and that he never considered needing before Dorothy. We can imagine, at least, the effort he'll put into rebuilding the bridge to Sandy.
I'm not sure how Michael not being a good person doesn't stand the test of time: there are, have been, and will be, many Michael Dorsey people, male and female. That, unfortunately, will always be the case. The question then may seem to be: can the audience be mature and open enough to see this person as he is first shown to us. If that can't be the case, then it's we who have failed the test of time, not the makers of this story who were able to develop this character, and wring him out till he comes out differently on the other side. If what you say is the case, it's we who need to come back to that kind of alertness, not the movie to degrade and lose its edge and its very reason for being.
Our whole family loves this movie. One of the key lines for Michael and possibly his first step forward, is when he tells Bill Murray's character about how Dorothy handled a touchy situation during the shooting of a scene. When he finishes the story, he takes a second to reflect, and confesses: "I think Dorothy's smarter than I am."
Thanks for the comments!
The big blossoming of Michael "into Dorothy" can be seen in that hysterical scene with Pollack, where he sums up that night from hell, from baby sitting Amy through to the engagement ring, and the incident with Gaines. He winds it up by saying: "These are good people, George, these are good people." Followed by Pollack's stunned reaction because, he observes, Michael has never cared about people before. This is followed later by Michael's meeting with Les, to return the ring, and to honestly explain himself. Part of that confession is that he did it for the money (an objective that a man like Les can comprehend), and that he didn't mean to hurt anyone. At this point, he is a mensch, and he means it. Though we don't get any scenes with Sandy after her explosion, we can note that she leaves that apartment with a different air than the one she's worn through most of the movie. And we know she'll be in Jeff's play. We can't know what happens during the rehearsal and production; but if Michael has shifted, and shows true contrition; and Sandy of course, by this time, knows why Dorothy came to be, we can imagine a kind of detente between them: Michael is building bridges that were both burned and that he never considered needing before Dorothy. We can imagine, at least, the effort he'll put into rebuilding the bridge to Sandy.
I'm not sure how Michael not being a good person doesn't stand the test of time: there are, have been, and will be, many Michael Dorsey people, male and female. That, unfortunately, will always be the case. The question then may seem to be: can the audience be mature and open enough to see this person as he is first shown to us. If that can't be the case, then it's we who have failed the test of time, not the makers of this story who were able to develop this character, and wring him out till he comes out differently on the other side. If what you say is the case, it's we who need to come back to that kind of alertness, not the movie to degrade and lose its edge and its very reason for being.