Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Email | Google Podcasts | RSS
Director: Michael Showalter
Starring: Sally Field, Max Greenfield(The Big Short), Stephen Root, Beth Behrs, Natasha Lyonne, Tyne Daly
Doris (Sally Field) has spent most of her life taking care of her mother. She takes the Ferry from Staten Island to Manhattan every day where she has worked as an accountant in a typically boring office setting. Her mother passes away and she finds herself lost in purpose until she goes to a self-help seminar where she has an awakening. She interprets the seminar as an sign that she should pursue her recent young attractive office addition, John Fremont (Max Greenfield)… because as the self-help seminar instructs, “Impossible means I’m possible”. This is a motif that is repeated throughout this light-hearted dramedy as Doris navigates the world that she dreams of while denying the world that is.
The world that is… seems somewhat cliché, in that, she is the typical female cat owner and cares for her Mom, through her decline, while giving up on her own dreams. The house they shared has become one that verges on the need for an intervention from a hoarding tv show, and her brother, Todd (Stephen Root), tries to get her to part with the stuff she and her mother have accumulated over their shared lifetime.
That sums up the story arc vehicle for Doris. The meat of this tale is in the comical elements around her romantic play for her office crush. Sally Field shines in her comedic portrayal. She elevates an absurd story because she is just so believable as Doris. We all can relate to that anachronistic family member, oblivious to the perception of those around him/her. And yet, that is where the story starts to feel slightly absurd. It is as though Doris is wearing her Clark Kent glasses and no one can see Superman (substituting Doris for Clark and crazy cat lady for Superman).
Bottom line, Sally Field is extremely funny and true to her role in an absurdly configured plot. Go see it for the humor.
C+
Follow