New Radicals – "You Get What You Give" (1998)

You’re in harm’s way

I’m right behind

Tootsie was a 1982 film that starred Dustin Hoffman as an unsuccessful actor who disguises himself as a woman to try out for a role on a soap opera.  He gets the part and quickly becomes a big star.

My main problem with the movie was that Hoffman’s character broke up with the character portrayed by Teri Garr in order to pursue Jessica Lange’s character.

Teri Garr and Dustin Hoffman

If you ask me, any man who would pick Jessica Lange over Teri Garr is an idiot.

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I had a somewhat similar reaction to Enough Said, a 2013 movie starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini as two divorced people who meet at a party and start dating each other.

I’m sorry, but I don’t think that Gandolfini – a guy who seemed to be more than a little shell-shocked by the nasty way his ex-wife had treated him – would have had the nerve to ask out a woman as attractive as Julia Louis-Dreyfus after one very brief meeting.

It would have helped if the director had cast Catherine Keener (who portrayed Gandolfini’s ex-wife) in Louis-Dreyfus’s role.  I don’t think Gandolfini would have been intimidated by Keener, who generally comes across as somewhat vulnerable and a little unsure of herself – making her a much better match for Gandolfini’s somewhat insecure character.

Catherine Keener

The suits who greenlighted the movie probably insisted on having Louis-Dreyfus in the starring role and Keener assigned to a lesser part because they thought Louis-Dreyfus was hotter.

Likewise, the suits behind Tootsie presumably thought Jessica Lange circa 1982 was more desirable to men than Teri Garr.

Suits are stupid.

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Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois formed the New Radicals in 1997.  The duo released only one album – Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed, Too – before breaking up, but continued to write songs together.

Brisebois had quite a career as a child actress.  She was a member of the original Broadway cast of Annie, and later appeared in All in the Family and Archie Bunker’s Place as the young daughter of Edith Bunker’s alcoholic cousin, who was taken in by the Bunkers when her father abandoned her.

Click here to watch the official music video for the song, which was filmed at the Staten Island Mall.

Click here to buy the song from Amazon.