Oh Sally Field, you are impossible not to love. I am in no way the target audience for HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS. In fact, I am about as far away as you can get from it. I am a young, college-aged male, and the theater I was watching it in was 95% middle-aged to “older” women. Despite this, Field’s charm succeeded in warming even my heart to the quirky rom-com. Directed by Michael Showalter (WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER) and featuring supporting roles by some of my favorite performers (Kumail Nanjiani and Max Greenfeild in particular), I came in expecting them to be the buoy that got me through the film. Nevertheless, it was Sally’s power that proves to me why she has been a star for more than double my life.
Doris (Field) is an eccentric older woman who has dedicated most of her life to caring for her mother in Staten Island, and pursuing a meaningless data entry job. Upon her mother’s death and a self-help seminar, her loneliness bursts into pursuing her office crush John (Max Greenfield). She seeks help from her tell-it-like-it-is best friend Roz (Tyne Daly) and her 13-year-old granddaughter… mainly though the latter. In pursuing her crush, she finds herself going to a Baby Goya and the Nuclear Winter (which I had to look up to make sure it wasn’t real) concert in order to bump into him. This plan goes better than expected, and the two begin a budding friendship, as Doris continues to hope John will fall for her despite learning of his beautiful blonde girlfriend.
The central theme of the film is the old adapting to the new. It doesn’t hold back when it comes to making fun of Brooklyn hipster culture – one character claims she runs an LGBT pre-school – but it also never comes across as biting. In depicting the older generation, Doris and her eccentricities show the dangers of never being able to move on. More than spending the majority of her life caring for her mom, she is also a hoarder. At the beginning of the film, the hoarding feels like a character flaw that can be overcome simply to show character development during the climax, but as the themes of the film become more apparent it is less grating, though still never perfect.
The drama half of this dramedy is fairly linear, with beat by beat points that never really seek to surprise. The end of the film is very respectable, Showalter finds a solution that manages to be believable without being too disappointing. The comedy is essentially the same as the drama. Kumail Nanjiani and Tyne Daly have the best lines throughout the film, and surprisingly (considering he’s the male lead) Max Greenfield doesn’t get much to work with. Sally Field’s jokes come in a BIG BANG THEORY-style of funny awkwardness. Nevertheless the audience seemed to enjoy the jokes that I found standard, while I laughed most at a few throw away lines. That is the biggest takeaway here. Sally Field fans should see the movie for Sally Field, however those looking for anything else really won’t find much.
