Just Like A Woman Review

Gerald, or Geraldine, is a tranvestite who gets thrown out of his marital home after his wife finds his women's clothes and suspects him of having an affair. His kink is embraced by new landlady and lover Monica, who also, becomes embroiled in the world of cross dressing.

by Mark Salisbury |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1992

Running Time:

96 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

Just Like A Woman

When the wife of pallid American stockbroker Gerald (Pasdar) unexpectedly arrives back home in London from the States to find their flat littered with an assortment of stockings and suspenders, she naturally assumes he's been having an affair. "Whoever she is, she's got terrible taste," she whines, before kicking him out.

Taking a room as lodger to newly divorced Monica (Walters), Gerald then strikes up a friendship with his landlady, eventually revealing himself to be a transvestite masquerading under the wildly inventive moniker Geraldine. Initially Monica doesn't understand the concept - "Is it hormones? Are you gay" - but after a period of moderately amusing adjustment in which she tries to cure her lodger-lover with hypnotism, the pair are soon swapping wardrobes and visiting transvestite haunts as she actively encourages him to step out during the day.

A ridiculous sub-plot regarding Gerald's boss' xenophobic response to a Japanese investment firm serves only as a tedious diversion while the sub-sitcom level humour - pancakes sticking to the ceiling, a fellow lodger's accounts of his exploits finding short cuts around the M25 - undermines even the reasonably humorous notion of putting Pasdar in a dress.

While cross-dressing in the movies has a fine pedigree - Tootsie, Some Like It Hot - this misguided attempt to explore transvestism is an embarrassing non-starter. Neither camp enough to entertain nor straight enough to educate, this adaptation of Monica Jay's autobiographical tale is, much like dear Gerald, confused and uneasy about its identity.
Just so you know, we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website - read why you should trust us