SALLY FIELD IN HELLO MY NAME IS DORIS

Sally Field returns to the romantic comedy genre but with a few dozen twists and turns... one being her age

Boy oh boy, man oh man, girl oh girl, old bag oh bag... Okay, not really... GIDGET'S FLYING NUN has gotten pretty old, but she doesn't look too bad, and for a chick-flick made for the elderly but trying hard for both the millennials and middle-aged, HELLO MY NAME IS DORIS, the title sounding like a melodrama about an alcoholic, is yet another big star in a relatively low-budget indie: Where Sally plays a frazzled, eccentric older lady working at... one of those jobs that never has a clear description yet for entertainment purposes, employees can walk around doing anything they want, as if they were drinking at CHEERS...

Sybil and Mole Face

Anyhow, following mom's death, Doris is more than nudged by her brother (and his selfish wife) that the lonely existence of hoarding are over, and although she is and has been employed, her (non) life was filled by saving junk inside her house, some which could be antiques actually worth something, like the house itself...

The Age Doris Strives For

So after watching some kind of motivational seminar she decides to change things... But all she really wants, after becoming a sort of thrift shop gypsy version of ANNIE HALL, is a younger man named John, played by Max Greenfield, kind of a Paul Rudd without the humor or personality... the perfect younger, vulerable man for a lady who had no confidence one minute and the next, she's practically leaping on him: Mostly in semi-humorous daydreaming montages, and yet Sally's character gets too confident, making the feel-good aspect override one scene involving a dramatic tantrum (which Sally pulls off with ease) seem way out of place. And she basically seems just too... ballsy, too quick, for any character-development to take place.

Lacey Returns

Like SYBIL, perhaps Doris needed more personalities, plural, as her one is so obsessed with this handsome hipster mannequin, there's not much to HELLO than a crush you'd see on an AFTER SCHOOL SPECIAL. And Tyne Daley, Clint Eastwood's partner in THE ENFORCER and the Alpha Female cop on CAGNEY AND LACY, as Doris's temperamental, blunt best friend, is supposed to be refreshingly funny and endearing but is really just annoying... especially to Doris, who yearns so hard for freedom, it's no wonder our gal needed a break having this impossible crush... or is it so impossible after all?

RATING: ***
TRIVIA: Sally's brother is played by Stephen Root, who, just by the sight of him, one would think of being stuck inside a nowhere cubical job since he played the origin character that inspired the Mike Judge cult classic OFFICE SPACE... although in this movie, he never goes to her work... he might just want that stapler! • Although the last name of Showalter is uncommon and only known for character-actor Max Showalter, famous for NIAGRA and SIXTEEN CANDLES, he is no relation to this film's writer/director Michael Showalter. • And the musician/band in this movie, a supposed techno wannabe Iggy Pop meets Devo, does seem like a real band but doesn't seem to be.