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HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS

It is instinctive in horror, war, egregiously violent films that we turn away, shut our eyes or exit the theatre; this is the first time that I experienced such horrific, unmitigated, cringing embarrassment, sickening malaise in a film, that on the surface, is billed as fanciful and funny; in actuality is a pathetic pandering, to thankfully a tiny, elite group.

Sally Field, who will be celebrating her 70th birthday this year is “Doris”, a kindly misfit, outrageously dressed in Carmen Miranda couture, who falls insanely and passionately in love with a twenty-something co-worker “John”  (Max Greenfield); the film might have worked if it had stayed in the realm of fantasy but instead morphs into foolish study of a lonely hoarder who surrounds herself with the detritus of other people’s lives. Her mother has died, her brother, sister-in-law and therapist want her to salvage whatever is salvageable in her life. A friend “Roz” (Tyne Daly) her granddaughter “Vivian” (Isabella Acres) are invested in and truly care for Doris.

The goodness, kindness, nonjudgmental attitude of the millennials is refreshing;  embracing her quirkiness, eccentricities; but devastatingly, disastrously fuels the flames of her infatuation.

Field’s is in remarkably fine form, physically and artistically, but pitiful Doris is the victim of her own unrequited life; she did not choose to love John but was absurdly unrealistic, tragic in her aggressive pursuit of the unattainable.

ONE & 1/2 STARS!

Peneflix

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4 comments

  1. Barbara Geraghty

    Great review! I read it and then caught the first showing today at Noon to see for myself. The place was jam packed with mostly 60+ year old women and lots of laughter. I kept thinking to myself what’s going on here? I found it ridiculous, condescending and just plain weird. I couldn’t agree with you more about the “pandering” and think your one & a half stars rating is exactly right.

  2. Barbara Geraghty

    P, Always enjoy your smart perspective. You notice things easily missed and worthy of consideration and discussion. It’s hard to keep up these days with so much material — movies, streaming shows on Netflix, etc. but my movie experience would be missing something without your reviews. How to understand why some found a movie a winner where others found it a loser?

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