Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)

So you think Sally Field doesn't look hot, or does look hot, or the male lead (name escapes me) is hot, isn't hot, or what is a 60something year old doing, fantasizing and pursuing a 30something year old. These actors are people, and their fictional characters are people within the confines of the story. They weren't made for you. There are billions of people in the world - each with his/her own story, also not made for you. You have your own story, and have done things in your life that someone else might wag their finger at and declare, "inappropriate!" (and if not you've had an incredibly boring life and it's time to get out there and get one)

Go ahead and make these judgments if you must. You're not the ultimate judge of what's hot and what's not, what's appropriate and what's cringe-worthy. Part of the "lesson" of the movie turned out to be that such prejudices can interfere with living a full life and prevent you from exploring all the avenues that may present themselves to you.

Wife and I enjoyed the movie very much.

Doris reminded me of my own mom, who was "hot" and effervescent, and who was named, Doris. I went to see it for that very reason, and I was rewarded by a beautiful and interesting movie, with many other aspects beyond whether the characters were hot and whether their behavior was age-appropriate.

Fmovies: Need a feel good movie? This little sentimental but funny and ultimately emotionally satisfying film is the work of Laura Terruso (form her previous short film 'Doris & The Intern') and Michael Showalter who also directs. The story at times becomes exasperating because of the failure of the main character to step out of her old backward ways in dress and behavior and join the contemporary times, but it also s a reminder of how aging people define their world and their entrapment in it.

Doris (Sally Field) is a 60-something woman who passed up an engagement early in life to remain with her mother on Staten Island. At the opening of the film we witness the funeral of the deceased mother with the emotionally impaired Doris struggling with her brother (Stephen Root) and sister in law (Wendy McLendon-Covey) over who should get the full of junk and memories house in which Doris lives and commutes by Ferry to Manhattan every day where she works in a small tacky cubicle. Doris meets John (Max Greenfield) on the elevator and immediately feels electricity despite the fact that the very young John is not in her range of relationships. Through a series of discussions with Doris' best friend Roz (Tyne Daly) and daughter Vivian (Isabella Acres) as well as a meeting with a self-help guru (Peter Gallagher) Doris attempts to court John, even to the extent of attending a punk rock party and other failed attempts and finally has to face the fact that john is only a friend (despite many hilarious fantasies of possible love affairs).

Sally Fields is consistently terrific though her grossly absurd costumes grow tiresome and make us realize how futile is her true attempt to woo John. The film does focus on aging people and their problems assimilating with the young millennials and in the midst of this is a solid core of respect for the need of the lonely partnerless person. It just goes on a bit long. Grady Harp, June 16

The romance novels prime demographic are the middle aged women for fantasy insert. As the cringe here is 'look don't touch', a cultural etiquette; we trade our youth to allow them their own. Then its violation of the code is unbearable, which is the perfect ingredient for subversive comedy. "Are we friends or lovers." It puts out that with human connection there is no difference. By extension it's not love v friendship but reality v. fantasy. Boundaries don't exist here--which is dangerous societally but wonderful cinematically. See how Doris is already this aged Minnie Mouse. In any other film 'Uncle Frank' might be a responsible consolation. Subversion. The film is in love with Sally Field the way she's in love with John. Then its most inspired and self-aware moment, it pulls her from the crowd seeing some iconic Warholian effect in her for an album cover: Sally Field was discovered in both worlds. Peter Gallagher is still quoting the ridiculous affect of his real estate king saying fantasy is reality. He's right, they're in a movie. The 'never ever' game juggles its narrative in layers of truth showing hidden lives outside the norm are everywhere even in fiction. Often films show the consequence of the artless, here, hoarding, as art needs both instigation and sacrifice. "I'm disappointed in you" it's as shameful as art's effect is enlightening. See how art achieves the impossible bridging the generations. It's art's fault removing them from comfort as art by its very nature is the same subversion of her loving outside her age bracket. "Love makes you do crazy things." Art is craziness itself. Subversion dismounts every norm. The therapists and friends are the broccoli-reality fighting the movie, the movie wins. A deleted scene: "I became aware of how often I've been performing my femininity." Yes, once again this is about boundaries and identity; her job is arbitrary and meaningless, she is in this useless post-modern quandary, lost and adorably useless. Lastly, the end is some kind of genius showing how to rewrite an entire picture to save it from itself; my instinct was that it was found in the edit, which sure enough was confirmed in the commentary: "We had many different versions of it and needed something satisfying, but believable, and surprising." It happens so quickly and unexpectedly it leaves some great impression even if it doesn't fully account for it, but there reflects the classic screwball comedies; aligning both its feminism and its fantasy. It chose fantasy because cinema is a fantasy, because Sally Field is Doris Day, because nothing is im-possible and aren't movies great. Even those doses of reality it straddles are completely powerless to the magic of movies as the its conclusive subversive force.

Hello, My Name Is Doris fmovies. There's so much more to this than just an older woman falling for a younger man. Doris' life had been cut off as a young woman when she was needed to take care of her ailing mother. Upon her death, she returns to where she left off in her youth. She doesn't really have any other reference than that which she felt like as a young woman in love, and never was given the opportunity to pursue those feelings. That's is Doris' starting point and her return to herself. It's beautiful and Sally Field and Max play it beautifully as well as the other actors. Tyne Daly is at her best.

This is really a wonderful movie. It really keeps you thinking and your heart aching for Doris and cheering her on!

Norma Rae, Edna Spalding, Mrs. Gump, Mary Todd Lincoln, and Doris Miller. Sally Field's most recent role, Doris Miller, is a worthy addition to her amazing gallery of film performances, given since she emerged as Gidget a half century ago. An eccentric, lonely woman of advancing years, Doris has sacrificed her life to care for her now-deceased mother. Mother and daughter have evidently been hoarders, and Doris's brother and sister-in-law eagerly want her to clean up and clear out, because they want to sell the Staten Island house. Meanwhile, Doris fixates on John Fremont, a much younger man, who is the new art director in her Manhattan office, and, inspired by a motivational speaker named Willy Williams and by countless bodice-busting romance novels, she decides to pursue romantic involvement with the good looking young guy. While "Hello, My Name is Doris" plays out somewhat predictably, the film provides a showcase for Sally Field in yet another Oscar-worthy performance.

In the hands of a less gifted actress, Doris could have been little more than a caricature; a bespectacled woman who wears wigs, has a large bow in her hair, decorates her cubicle with cat calendars, and lives alone in a cluttered house with a cat. However, Fields brings restraint and depth to the character, and she convincingly conveys the shy woman's re-emergence from a decades-long cocoon. Although her pursuit of the young man borders at times on cringe worthy, Fields manages to retain her dignity and audience sympathy. Fremont, played by Max Greenfield, who is about three decades younger than Fields, kindly returns Fields's overtures of friendship, but fails to grasp that she wants more than he is prepared to offer. Doris's "Walter Mitty" like day dreams about Fremont are often amusing, but her foray into Facebook stalking takes a dark, unsavory turn.

The supporting cast is good, although none overshadow Field's star turn. Greenfield is fine as Doris's fantasy-love interest, and Tyne Daly is her usual tough-shell warm-inside self as Doris's best friend and confidante. Peter Gallagher nails the Willy Williams part and actually imparts some helpful, if clichéd advice to Doris. Directed and co-written by Michael Showalter, "Hello, My Name is Doris" may have been intended as a fantasy- exploitation film for older women, who seem to dominate the movie's audiences. Generally, May-December romances involve older men with younger women, and Field herself starred in one such film, "Murphy's Romance" with James Garner, although the age difference in that film disappeared through the stars' chemistry. However, the chemistry fails to develop herein, and Doris and John reverse the gender/age roles, which places them close to Harold and Maude, a possible turn off for some viewers. Nevertheless, the exceptional performance by Sally Field is well worth seeing and the proceedings are often amusing, even if a few scenes between her and Greenfield may make some uncomfortable.

This is a great example of ultrafine filmmaking that simultaneously courts convention, and then proceeds to transcend it.

It starts up as straight-up storytelling bolstered by a focus on character/scenario development, and winds up being quite close to mythic. Doris starts out as a "character", but ends up as a goddess. That's a laudable achievement for film.

This flick, more than many, gets my inner wheels turning, pondering the production process that brought together so many fine talents to produce such a fine film product. After watching so many hi-tech, meticulous productions that skimp on narrative/mythic depth, it's nice to see a mid-tech product that really does deliver the goods.

Check it out.