Hello, My Name Is Doris
Growing old isn't easy, but it's harder when you have unfulfilled dreams. Hello, My Name Is Doris is a romantic comedy about the eponymous Doris Miller (Sally Field), an older woman who spends her days plodding away in the accounting department at a New York City office building. After Doris's mother passes away, Doris is pressured by her brother, Todd (Stephen Root), and his caustic wife, Cynthia (Wendi McLendon-Covey), to vacate her home where she cared for her mom. Doris's existential crisis balloons when she shares a cramped elevator ride with her handsome new coworker, John Fremont (Max Greenfield). She subsequently develops such a powerful crush him that prompts her to remake herself to attract his affection.
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Movies about representatives of the "older" generation trying to rediscover their youth by adopting the idiosyncrasies of their younger counterparts are a staple among comedy films. Doris is forced to confront her own mortality after the death of her mother--whom she cared for while Todd went off to become a successful business owner, putting her own dreams of happiness and marriage on hold. Although she behaves like a woman her age, she has been living in stasis for decades, and her subconscious is just thawing out from a proverbial deep freeze. The turning point comes when she meets John; he is kind and good-looking, which doesn't just stir feelings of companionship, but full-blown lust. Doris pursues John with the fervor of a teenage girl, like Vivian (Isabella Acres), the granddaughter of her best friend, Roz (Tyne Daly), because she never acted out on these impulses in her youth, longing to experience what it feels like. Doris periodically drifts off into erotic daydreams without preamble--catching the audience off-guard--where John openly declares his desire to date her, or even strips off his button-down shirt after she spills coffee on it, and presses his muscular body against hers. She takes her obsession to extremes--like creating a fake Facebook account to stalk him, and using an alias that sounds like it was lifted from one of her favorite romance novels. Doris lacks familiarity with social media etiquette, and even abuses it in a wine-soaked moment of heartache, sabotaging John's relationship with his comically-named girlfriend, Brooklyn (Beth Behrs).
Doris is a mousy holdover at her company, implied to have been retained out of some form of corporate tenure, and is regarded by her obnoxiously fashionable and young colleagues as an eccentricity. She is aware of how the world is speeding by her while she putters along, even if it takes John to make her cautiously tip-toe outside of her comfort zone. Doris hoards possessions that she will never use, like a bowl full of assorted shampoo bottles. When her counselor, Dr. Edwards (Elizabeth Reaser)--at the behest of Todd and Cynthia--tries to convince her to part with her baggage, she explodes in a defensive outburst, revealing that she is compelled to collect these artifacts because they represent what little of her past is actually hers. Doris picks up a CD by an artist John likes to cultivate something in common between them; when she attends a concert in a bold ensemble of rave wear, she ends up impressing the performer so much that he puts her on the cover of his new album. Doris mingles with various hipster oddballs who might just view her as a novelty like her coworkers do--but the difference here is that because Doris willingly puts herself out there and participates in the same activities they like, they accept her without conditions.
Hello, My Name Is Doris walks the tightrope of depicting Doris in a sympathetic light without portraying her as absurd, commonly found in any comedy about a generational divide. If anything, it is the younger generation that is depicted as outlandish and overblown. Consider John's Thanksgiving dinner party where a friend literally sprays the scent of sage into the room, or when Brooklyn--who claims she got her name because her parents were Woody Allen fans--confides to Doris that she feels that she "finds herself" in her LGBT rooftop knitting circle, despite not being a lesbian. Doris's newfound acquaintances and coworkers are so obnoxiously trendy and progressive that they appear positively alien; but they still represent new territory for Doris to discover, and in the process discover more about herself. Directed by Michael Showalter, Doris's journey of self-discovery mirrors the beloved films of Hal Ashby. Doris becomes a popular figure among her hip, young fans, even if she doesn't understand her appeal to them. Moments where things she says in an awkwardly vague way gets misinterpreted as profound insight makes her a parallel figure to Chance from Being There, along with her naïveté. Although largely platonic, her May-November relationship with John resembles the one from Harold and Maude, save that Doris is the one reawakening to life. Like Harold, Doris tries to remake her life into something that it isn't in her quest for a higher purpose--in her case, the pursuit of love--coming away wiser from it by discovering the courage to live on her own terms and leave her stagnant past behind.
Recommended for: Fans of a comedy that deals with the universal anxieties of loneliness and irrelevance when confronted with aging--a process that doesn't always come with grace and wit. Hello, My Name Is Doris can be appreciated by adults of any age, but it is likely to garner more sympathy from an audience closer to Doris's age.
Doris is a mousy holdover at her company, implied to have been retained out of some form of corporate tenure, and is regarded by her obnoxiously fashionable and young colleagues as an eccentricity. She is aware of how the world is speeding by her while she putters along, even if it takes John to make her cautiously tip-toe outside of her comfort zone. Doris hoards possessions that she will never use, like a bowl full of assorted shampoo bottles. When her counselor, Dr. Edwards (Elizabeth Reaser)--at the behest of Todd and Cynthia--tries to convince her to part with her baggage, she explodes in a defensive outburst, revealing that she is compelled to collect these artifacts because they represent what little of her past is actually hers. Doris picks up a CD by an artist John likes to cultivate something in common between them; when she attends a concert in a bold ensemble of rave wear, she ends up impressing the performer so much that he puts her on the cover of his new album. Doris mingles with various hipster oddballs who might just view her as a novelty like her coworkers do--but the difference here is that because Doris willingly puts herself out there and participates in the same activities they like, they accept her without conditions.
Hello, My Name Is Doris walks the tightrope of depicting Doris in a sympathetic light without portraying her as absurd, commonly found in any comedy about a generational divide. If anything, it is the younger generation that is depicted as outlandish and overblown. Consider John's Thanksgiving dinner party where a friend literally sprays the scent of sage into the room, or when Brooklyn--who claims she got her name because her parents were Woody Allen fans--confides to Doris that she feels that she "finds herself" in her LGBT rooftop knitting circle, despite not being a lesbian. Doris's newfound acquaintances and coworkers are so obnoxiously trendy and progressive that they appear positively alien; but they still represent new territory for Doris to discover, and in the process discover more about herself. Directed by Michael Showalter, Doris's journey of self-discovery mirrors the beloved films of Hal Ashby. Doris becomes a popular figure among her hip, young fans, even if she doesn't understand her appeal to them. Moments where things she says in an awkwardly vague way gets misinterpreted as profound insight makes her a parallel figure to Chance from Being There, along with her naïveté. Although largely platonic, her May-November relationship with John resembles the one from Harold and Maude, save that Doris is the one reawakening to life. Like Harold, Doris tries to remake her life into something that it isn't in her quest for a higher purpose--in her case, the pursuit of love--coming away wiser from it by discovering the courage to live on her own terms and leave her stagnant past behind.
Recommended for: Fans of a comedy that deals with the universal anxieties of loneliness and irrelevance when confronted with aging--a process that doesn't always come with grace and wit. Hello, My Name Is Doris can be appreciated by adults of any age, but it is likely to garner more sympathy from an audience closer to Doris's age.