Actor Dustin Hoffman, 89, published his memoir, Look at Me, on Tuesday. He wrote it with New Yorker staff writer Ariel Levy. In 2017, several women accused Hoffman of sexual misconduct. Writer Anna Graham Hunter said he grabbed her and made sexual remarks when she was a 17-year-old intern on his 1985 TV film Death of a Salesman. Playwright Cori Thomas said he exposed himself to her when she was 16. His lawyers called the claims "defamatory falsehoods." None led to lawsuits or criminal charges. In the book, Hoffman writes that he "made some women uncomfortable" but denies ever pressuring anyone sexually. He doesn't go through the accusations one by one. None of the accusers has responded to the book publicly so far.

Hoffman Says He Flirted but Never Pressured Anyone

Hoffman says he told dirty jokes and flirted too much, and that #MeToo judged him without proof.

He admits he flirted, and he denies the rest. "I'm sure it's true that in my life, especially forty years ago, I made some women uncomfortable," Hoffman writes. He calls himself "a Borscht Belt flirt," borrowing actor Bill Murray's phrase. He says he loves a dirty joke, but that's "not the same thing as pressuring someone to do something they didn't want to do." He writes that taking something sexually that someone didn't want to give is "just not something I've ever done."

He says people react differently to the same remark. Hoffman writes that feeling uncomfortable is "a subjective emotional state." He says what one person finds crass and offensive, another might find "hilarious, or enlivening, or even sort of cozy." He says his wife, Lisa, taught him how differently people can see the same moment.

He says he's learned something. Hoffman asks whether he's "been guilty of insufficient empathy." He writes that it took him "years (decades?)" to learn that flirting with every woman he met "was not okay."

He says he never got a fair hearing. Hoffman writes that he thought #MeToo "was a very good thing" when it started, but that people said things about him "that just weren't true." "There was no innocent until proven guilty," he writes. "There was no 'proving' anything at all." "We hid in our house in Connecticut," he writes. He compares the fallout to the McCarthy-era blacklist.

Critics Say His Answer Is Defensive

Critics say Hoffman's answer is cagey and leans on a courtroom standard that doesn't fit.

He gets defensive and falls short of contrition. Tim Robey reviewed the book for The Telegraph and called it "generally sparkling." But he said the misconduct passages are "cagey and defensive" and "fall short of true contrition or soul-searching." He called the McCarthy comparison "maybe unwise."

He admits the remarks and denies the worse claims. Simon Delott, writing for The Hollywood Gossip, said Hoffman "seeks to draw a distinction" between "what he feels were merely off-color remarks" and "the more harrowing allegations." Delott called Hoffman's answer "not the worst but it is also far from the best."

He holds #MeToo to a courtroom standard. Delott wrote that "innocent until proven guilty" doesn't apply to a public conversation the way Hoffman suggests. Delott also noted that Hoffman says he didn't see himself as powerful. He called that short-sighted for someone who spent decades as a big Hollywood name.

Some Reviewers Find Him Candid and Likable

Some reviewers like the book, and the LA Times review leaves the allegations for readers to weigh.

He comes across as likable. Julia M. Klein reviewed the book for the Los Angeles Times. She wrote that it has enough candor to make Hoffman seem "sympathetic, even endearing." She quoted his line that "different times have different rules," then wrote, "Draw your own conclusions."

Kirkus and his co-writer praise the rest of the book. Kirkus gave it a starred review, calling it "a cut way above the usual Hollywood memoir." His co-writer, Ariel Levy, told The Free Press, "He's the Dustin Hoffman you hope Dustin Hoffman will be."

Where This Lands

Hoffman says he flirted and told dirty jokes but never pressured anyone. He says #MeToo judged him without proof. Robey calls those pages cagey and defensive. Delott says Hoffman separates the off-color remarks he admits from the more harrowing allegations. Klein finds Hoffman sympathetic and leaves the allegations to readers. Hoffman and Levy are set to discuss the book in New York on Wednesday.

Sources