Mrs Doubtfire **** (1993, Robin Williams, Sally Field) – Classic Movie Review 1538

Director Chris Columbus’s much-loved 1993 drag comedy showcases a brilliant tour-de-force performance by Robin Williams as a bitterly divorced actor Daniel Hillard, who disguises himself as an elderly Scottish housekeeper to spend time with his three lovely kids (Lisa Jakub, Mara Wilson, Matthew Lawrence) held in custody by his former wife Miranda (Sally Field).

Amazingly, Daniel pulls off the trick so well that neither Miranda nor his children recognise him. He has to deal with Miranda’s jerk of a new boyfriend, but along the way learns some good parenting ideas.

Williams won a Best Actor comedy Golden Globe as the well-padded cross-dressing nanny and Greg Cannom, Ve Neill and Yolanda Toussieng won a much deserved Oscar for their brilliant Best Makeup.

With a screenplay by Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon, based on Anne Fine’s novel Alias Madame Doubtfire, the movie is always enjoyable and often hilarious, even if it’s less appealing when it goes soft and shows its sentimental side..

Field is loyal in a much less rewarding role as the hard-nosed career mother Miranda for ever battling the hero and Pierce Brosnan fights an unsympathetic part as Fields’s narcissistic new boyfriend Stu. But Harvey Fierstein has a couple of amusing scenes as Williams’s stereotypical gay Jewish brother Frank, a makeup artist who does Williams’s nanny look, and Robert Prosky is engaging as the old TV station boss Mr Lundy, who gives Williams the job that finally gets him back on his feet.

Williams is hysterical as both man and woman, and, even if the movie can be soft and sentimental, it’s still good-natured, warm-hearted and funny. And the Mrs Doubtfire character is always sharp and witty.

Sydney Walker, who plays the bus driver, died on September 30 1994, age 73.

Originally a 12 certificate, it was re-released in a slightly cut PG version.

Tragically dear Robin Williams was found dead in his home in Tiburon, California, on Monday August 11 2014, aged 63. The cause of death is believed to be suicide via asphyxiation. He had been battling depression and recently entered 12-step rehab for drug abuse.  He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1997 for Good Will Hunting, and won two Emmys, four Golden Globes, five Grammys and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Mrs Doubtfire was perhaps his most enduring character. He was gearing up to reprise his role in a sequel.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1538

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