There are very few movies these days with starring roles for actresses on the cusp of their 70th birthday, even if they have already collected a couple of Oscars. So when one does come along they grab it with open arms and throw themselves into the part with full gusto. This is exactly what Sally Field did when the script of ‘Hello My Name is Doris’ landed in her lap. The role hadn’t actually been written with her in mind, although by the end of the 95 mins, you simply couldn’t imagine anyone else playing the the part.
The movie starts with the death of Doris’s mother. She was the reason that Doris had put her whole life on hold for the past few decades. Now stranded in the family home, completely alone, and surrounded by the mounds of junk that she has hoarded for years, Doris feels her life is over. She has her two best friends that also live on Staten Island, and her job data processing in a trendy Manhattan Office which is a long subway and ferry ride away, but asides from that, very little else. The only person who shows any interest in her life, is her younger brother, and that is simply because he wants to sell the house as he was left a half share in their mother’s will.
Doris is invisible to all her trendy young co-workers which is difficult to apprehend in a way as she has a very eccentric thrift-lady fashion dress sense with her quirky multi-colored clothes. Then one day when she is crushed into the corner of a packed elevator, a young handsome stranger jostles her but then he very sweetly leans over and straightens her crooked glasses. It’s a simple act of kindness but as no-one ever performs these for her, Doris is in state of shock. When she later discovers that her charming Sir Galahad is actually a new executive starting to work in her office, she is hooked.
Even though John is practically oblivious to her, he becomes a ‘project’ for Doris who has quickly developed a school-girl crush even though he is less than half her age. Her best friend Ros’s thirteen year old granddaughter gives Doris a crash course in Social media in order for her to ‘stalk’ John. And it works very well, and by conniving to be at a club where he is watching his favorite Band, Doris meets John properly, and mistaking her for another music fan, they become fast friends.
Like any adolescent obsession Doris starts acting irrationally and gets herself into some rather silly situations like even befriending John’s girlfriend and then tricking her into dumping him. By now she is firmly entrenched into John’s clique of young friends who seem to have adopted her as some sort of mascot much to Roz’s disdain and the annoyance of her brother, and it is difficult to see how this will all pan out well.
In fact this usually avoided topic of an older woman who has in-appropriate romantic feelings for a much younger man is handled adroitly with such humor and never once steers into an area of discomfort for either the characters, or indeed the audience. Much of the credit is due to Field’s glorious and pitch perfect performance, but it also worked well because of the chemistry she created with Max Greenfield who was so comfortable playing her would-be suitor John.
Director and co-writer Michael Showalter added some neat touches of a few hilarious fantasy scenes, but more than this he ensured that the whole movie was surprisingly much warmer and funnier than the previews had led us to believe. He also proved beyond a doubt that actresses of this age, particularly Ms Field are more than capable of still ‘carrying’ the lead in a movie, and hopefully ‘Doris’ will be start of a very welcome new trend.
