Mrs. Doubtfire

Mrs. Doubtfire

20th Century Fox

November 24, 1993

Comedy
DVD
C

I'd avoided this movie since the time, since the clips and quotes I saw and heard just never struck me as funny.  I made it to the halfway point, since I actually liked the very beginning, with Robin's character playing a temperamental actor, even if that was a little too close to Tootsie all things considered.  The acting was better than I expected, including poor miscast Sally Field as the Yuppie wife-mother.  But the random racism, sexism, and, yes, transphobia (including a throwaway joke about one of Robin's phone personalities), as well as the EXTREME, even for this sitcomic setup, implausibility (an acquaintance notices that two characters have the same eyes but the wife and children don't?), finally got to be too much.  Still, I've certainly seen worse, including from Williams.

This movie is based on Anne Fine's novel Alias Madame Doubtfire, which I think I did attempt reading in the last twenty years, but I wouldn't swear to it.  Chris Columbus directed, three years after Home Alone.

Clue

Clue

Paramount
December 13, 1985
Historical Comedy, Crime Comedy
DVD
B-

So, I sort of remember this movie from the time, in that I remember what a critical and commercial failure it was and how I didn't see it in the theater partly because of that, and partly because I thought I'd have to go three times for all the endings, and that seemed like a rip-off.  So I caught it on cable, maybe all at once, maybe in bits and pieces.  I liked it and vaguely remembered it, but I haven't watched it in, oh, I'm going to say thirty years.

It would probably be a C+ without its game (pun intended) and very recognizable (to me) cast.  (I have to omit Kellye Nakahara, but I was delighted to see her outside of M*A*S*H.)  The story does drag a bit, especially during the "splitting up in pairs" part, but there's enough amusement and, yes, intrigue that it mostly held my interest throughout.  I also like the use of 1954-appropriate songs, like "Sh-Boom," and the bit of political satire.  Note that this is sort of the second movie I've reviewed where Michael McKean plays gay, unless you count ending #3.

John Landis co-wrote the story and this was Jonathan Lynn's first directorial gig (seven years before the much more acclaimed My Cousin Vinny).