Hello, My Name is Doris
- Director: Michael Showalter
- Writer: Laura Terruso; Michael Showalter
- Producer: Mauricio Betancur; Christopher Boyd
CGiii Comment
A film with too many problems...and, a film that has no idea what it is...
Rather than being a look at inter-generational relationships, it comes across as a pitiful piss-take on mental health...Doris is not the 'full schilling' - if these Hollywood writers find that amusing...then, woe unto them...
Overall, the writing is [calamitously] unoriginal, wholly implausible...and, obviously and offensively, ticks the required 'inclusivity' boxes...an LGBT pre-school?!? An LGBT knitting circle...attended by a non-LGBT knitter!?! WTF! Why bother!
Is this meant to be a comedy? Sally Field doesn't do comedy well! Neither do the writers! There is only one scene that is funny...with Tyne Daly answering the telephone...it looks and feels like a blooper, it lasts only a few seconds...but, it is the only genuine scene in the whole film.
In a nutshell, this film is about self-inflicted humiliation and delusion, Doris is in therapy...for hording!?! The production designer - obviously - had no idea what a hoarder's house looked like...because Doris' rather sparse house was not that of a hoarder! Besides...this incompetent therapist failed to grasp that Doris was suffering...from grief, loneliness, desperation and failure!!!
Jesus H. Christ...no-one involved in this film could see the wood from the trees!!! This should have been/could have been an emotional rollercoaster, Sally Field has the capability of delivering such a performance...it just goes to show how a dud director/writer can really screw up a film!
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
A self-help seminar inspires a sixty-something woman to romantically pursue her younger co-worker.
This comedy follows Doris, an office worker in her mid-60s whose mother just passed away, as she drastically changes her life and romantically pursues a much younger coworker. Another coworker at Doris’ office is Nasir, an openly gay man. Though Nasir is not a very significant character in the film, he often serves as the voice of the collective of coworkers in their office. Most of the time, he acts as the face of normalcy compared to Doris’ wild fantasy life and eccentricities. Later in the film, the audience meets Nasir’s date, Keith, at a holiday dinner. The film also makes several oneoff jokes about the community in service of portraying how many queer people a hipster in Brooklyn might know, including a coworker who is a member of an LGBTQ knitting group and someone who says she is a teacher at a “gay preschool in Park Slope.” This kind of casual inclusion – LGBTQ characters clearly established as such in the material, but whose story does not revolve solely around their identity – is something we would like to see more of going forward.
We fail to see why GLAAD "would like to see more of going forward" - whatever that means!?!
Cast & Characters
Sally Field as Doris;
Edmund Lupinski as Priest;
Norma Michaels as Doris' Mother;
Stephen Root as Todd;
Wendi McLendon-Covey as Cynthia;
Max Greenfield as John;
Kumail Nanjiani as Nasir;
Rebecca Wisocky as Anne Patterson;
Rich Sommer as Robert;
Tyne Daly as Roz;
Leilani Smith as Jogger;
Peter Gallagher as Willy Williams;
Susan Ziegler as Prim Organizer;
Caroline Aaron as Val;
Elizabeth Reaser as Doctor Edwards