'Hello, My Name is Doris' - The Pleasure is All Ours!
Sally Field returns to the big screen and man am I glad to see her! In her new film 'Hello, My Name is Doris', Field (as the title character Doris) simply shines and proves once again just how great of an actress she is. "Doris' is an 'Indie' romantic comedy that entertains as well as challenges the viewers to look into the pain of loneliness as well as mental illness.
Doris Miller (Sally Field) is a sixty-something woman living on Staten Island with her mother in the same house she grew up in. From Staten Island she takes the ferry every working day to her accounting job at a hip design firm in Manhattan. The only reason she is still at the firm is to allow the firm to remain diversified. Doris is lonely and a hoarder which only becomes more exacerbated when her mother passes away.
Her brother Todd (Stephen Root) and his selfish wife Cindy (Wendi McLendon-Covey) make it clear they want to clear out and sell the house. With the house packed with stuff from floor to ceiling, Doris cannot imagine or deal with this happening. On her way to work shortly after the death of her mother, Doris has a close encounter with a charming young man in a crowded elevator, John (Max Greenfiled of 'New Girl') has a welcoming smile and instantly sparks an attraction in Doris. Soon Doris learns that John is a new employee at her company and her obsession starts to grow.
Not at all able to interact with the world, Doris reaches out for help from her best friends (Tyne Daly, marvelous in the film) granddaughter Vivian (Isabella Acres) who teaches her how to set up a fake Facebook account in order to gather more information on John. This leads Doris to going to a Electronic Funk concert to impress John and soon she is having the time of her life!
Director Michael Showalter does an excellent job of handling the problem of portraying 'social misfits' without portraying them as losers. This is due in large part to the Oscar worthy performance from Field who is a mixture of quirky, loving, funny and at times sad. She is powerfully convincing as the tortured Doris who misses her mother and spent a life time caring for her while her life passed her by.
The film handles multiple topics masterfully without getting bogged down in a depressive mood. Tackling loneliness, the effect of loss, the psychological impact of depression and the difficulty of falling in love at a later age, 'Hello My Name is Doris' is a 'A+' effort for Field. It is unfortunate that this does not have a wider release, being a small art house film. But if you can find it at a nearby theater, I urge you to go see it! Doris is someone you will have the pleasure of meeting!