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    Hello, My Name Is Doris

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    If you’re not convinced that Sally Field is a great actress, then “Hello, My Name is Doris” will change that. The film contains a lot of bad jokes, there are several predictable developments throughout, but her performance is strong and it elevates the whole picture.

    Doris (Fields), is meek, sorta loopy and a bit of a hoarder. She lived with her mother until recently, and even then, she’s only on her own because the elderly woman finally kicked the bucket. When Doris spots John (Max Greenfield), a young and attractive new employee at her workplace, she’s smitten and decides she must have him.

    I was worried when this film started. For a large portion of its running time, “Hello, My Name is Doris” plays like a typical comedy aimed for people approaching retirement. There are some bad raunchy jokes that aren’t too raunchy, fun is poked at young people because they’re just weird and the script treats human beings as if their IQ drops several points the second they become sixty. My father isn’t on Facebook but he’s been around for a while, he knows how the real world works. Yes, I understand that Doris is a little bit off her rocker, but the film goes for easy jokes over and over. It’s not enough that she is barely computer literate, she has to be socially awkward, she has bad hair, she acts strangely, she collects weird stuff. I get it, ok? This film is set in some kind of alternate Earth where all teenagers have a quota of “Yeah, whatever, MOM! ” and anyone who isn’t Doris or her best friends are over-the-top hipsters or one-dimensional jerks. Don’t worry, it gets better.

    It’s frustrating to see “HMNID” pull every bad “old person movie” joke and all but make its main character an accidental Youtube sensation because when it’s good, it shows genuine intelligence, warmth and understanding. Fields makes this outlandish character human, she ensures that you actually kind of hope that Doris’ll get together with John, even if it’s just for a second. Anything so she can get her life back on track. There are sequences where it cuts out all the bad jokes and show the humanity of a woman who doesn’t have a lot of friends and is very troubled. There’s real drama here, moments of pain that make Doris’ small victories feel like gold medals at the Olympics. More than once, I begged director Michael Showalter not to take the cheap road and he listened, instead taking a turn that shows off great humor. It refrains itself from cheaply pulling at your heartstrings and instead earns sympathy for its title character.

    I can’t say enough good things about Sally Fields. In someone else’s hands, this would be a painful film. But it’s not. It’s rough at first but gets smoother along the way and by the end of it, “Hello, My Name is Doris” earned my respect. It is kind of sweet and I’m certain that it’ll please audiences. Actually, I know it will. I don’t like to judge crowds, but I saw a lot of people my parent’s age sitting in my row and they howled in laughter. My advice? Do a trade. Let your parents take you to “Hello, My Name is Doris” so you get to bring them to a big movie they’d normally ignore. It’ll be a win-win situation for you. (Theatrical version on the big screen, May 5, 2016)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  8.5.2016 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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