Hello, My Name Is Doris

Synopsis: After her mother dies, Doris (Sally Field) and her friend Roz (Tyne Daly) attend a seminar run by self-help guru Willy Williams (Peter Gallagher) where she discovers that what seems ‘impossible’ is suddenly within your grasp when you pronounce it ‘I’m possible’. What Doris thought was impossible was the potential for a relationship with hunky and substantially younger John (Max Greenfield) who’s just started work in her office. With the help of Roz’s granddaughter Vivian (Isabella Acres) Doris manages to get John’s attention and embarks on a campaign to win his heart, much to the horror of both Roz and her brother Todd (Stephen Root).

Can it really be twenty years since Sally Field has had a starring role in a feature film? I must admit I don’t even think I saw that movie (John Schlesinger’s 1996 thriller, Eye for an Eye). The last time I saw a film where she had a bigger than supporting role was probably Chris Columbus’ 1993 comedy Mrs Doubtfire and that film really belonged to Robin Williams. Of course, I’m of the generation that fondly remembers her TV roles as Gidget and The Flying Nun which means I’m also of the generation that sat gobsmacked through her breakout performance in Daniel Petrie’s 1976 mini-series Sybil (We didn’t actually get all four hours of it. We had to buy a cinema ticket to see the cut down version.) and her excruciatingly embarrassing Oscar acceptance speech for Martin Ritt’s 1980 drama Norma Rae (“…you really like me.”). The past two decades has seen her working mostly in series television like ER and Brothers and Sisters with occasional big screen outings for small but admirable roles such as Abe’s wife in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012).  So after such a dry spell I was really happy to see her back on screen in a lead role and even happier to see that she’s still got what it takes to carry a film, even if that film is a romantic comedy about an old lady with a serious crush on a seriously younger guy.

There’s a lot to like about this film. It’s refreshing to see the tired old rom-com formula reinvigorated by such a simple twist on what we’ve been watching for years. We seem to never tire of old blokes like Woody Allan, Sean Connery or Bruce Willis hooking up with women their daughter’s age so why should the reverse seem so impossible (or should I say ‘I’m possible’). The trick is to walk the fine line between Doris being a sad and delusional desperado and just a straight up stalker. Field manages touches of both these things in her knockout performance without allowing them to overwhelm the heart of the character. Her performance is grounded, genuine and strangely uplifting.

The film is based on a 2011 short, Doris and the Intern, written and directed by Laura Terruso who co-wrote the feature screenplay with the director. It’s a smart script with lots of good solutions to the many pitfalls this kind of story faces. They don’t all work but, on balance, the film gets it right especially with its resolution which manages to elevate the story to being more about the Doris’ liberation than her libido.

Greenfield is perfect as the lantern-jawed object of Doris’ desire. He’s handsome and charming and pulls off the difficult task of making us believe he has a genuine affection for her. The supporting cast is great. Tyne Daly is her usual acerbic self and the ever-reliable Stephen Root plays the disapproving brother with just the right amount of compassion to temper his exasperation with his sister. Unfortunately, Wendy McLendon-Covey doesn’t fare quite so well as his nagging wife Cynthia. She’s a one-note character having little more to play with than disapproval of Doris. That aside, this is a sweet, romantic and very funny film that flies in the face of conventions that would otherwise resist a woman of Field’s age having the opportunity to play a strong leading role in a great film like this. It’s an opportunity that Field doesn’t waste.

 

 

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