Sometimes, the most successful films of yesteryear look borderline insane to younger generations. For example, Gen Z was weirdly delighted to discover Mrs. Doubtfire, a film with a plot about a guy who becomes the master of crossdressing to circumvent divorce papers and spy on his children without his ex-wife’s knowledge.
Mrs. Doubtfire is a movie that would get everyone involved canceled these days, but once you rediscover this Academy Award-winning film on Hulu, it’s destined to become your new problematic fave.
Dude Looks Like a Lady
The wild premise of Mrs. Doubtfire is that after an out-of-work voice actor gets divorced and his wife is temporarily awarded sole custody, he worries about not spending enough time with his children. After his ex-wife posts a classified ad looking for a housekeeper, he uses his voice acting skills to call her and pose as an elderly English nanny with extensive experience. He gets hired and physically transforms himself into the titular Mrs. Doubtfire, but every interaction with his family threatens to expose his double life, something that could keep him from seeing his children ever again.
The cast of Mrs. Doubtfire helps sell this crazy plot, including Sally Field (best known for Lincoln) as the mother who kicks her deadbeat (albeit dead funny) husband to the curb. She gets sole custody of the kids, including a character played to plucky perfection by Mara Wilson (best known as the lead actor of Matilda). Fortunately, mom has her sights on a new man: an old friend played to the charismatic hilt by future James Bond icon Pierce Brosnan.
A Legendary Actor’s Best Work
To nobody’s surprise, though, the most mesmerizing performance comes from Robin Williams, whose comic talents make his regular character and his Mrs. Doubtfire persona feel like two very distinct individuals. The plot of this movie feels like an old TV sitcom bit stretched out to two whole hours, but Williams’ nonstop, manic energy keeps you glued to your screen the entire time. If nothing else, this is the perfect movie to break your cellphone addiction because you’ll never be able to doomscroll during the film for fear of missing one of his sidesplitting gags in what may be Williams’ very best movie.
It’s also worth noting that Mrs. Doubtfire was directed by Chris Columbus, the same superstar director behind iconic children’s films like Adventures in Babysitting, Home Alone, and the first two Harry Potter movies. There’s arguably nobody in Hollywood better suited to direct young people, and Columbus gets astounding performances from his young cast. Arguably, their open and earnest reactions to Williams’ performance are just as responsible for this movie’s success as Williams himself.
On paper, Mrs. Doubtfire seemed like a box office disaster waiting to happen. Who the heck was going to come see a movie where the TV’s Mork dressed like an elderly woman and lied to his entire family while pranking the guy from Remington Steele? But the movie became a smash hit, earning $441.3 million against a modest budget of $85 million. This much profit virtually ensured a sequel, but that never happened: there were difficulties in writing the script (after all, the character’s children already knew who Mrs. Doubtfire was), and Robin Williams’ tragic death in 2014 made the creation of another follow-up film completely impossible.
Triumphs And Trophies
When Mrs. Doubtfire came out, critics didn’t have any real issues with its plot. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 70 percent, with critics praising the movie for its consistently hilarious transgressive humor that prevents the movie from being sickly sweet with sentimentality. Critics specifically lauded Robin Williams for a dynamic performance, one that leveraged the social taboos of the film’s premise to deliver one unforgettably wild punchline after another.
Surprisingly enough, Mrs. Doubtfire was also an awards darling, and the movie earned the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy while Williams took home the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Makeup. These prestigious awards, as well as many other honors (including everything from British Academy Film Awards to MTV Movie Awards), help to underscore what a breakout pop culture hit this quirky comedy really was.
New Problematic Fave Unlocked
Personally, I was very pleasantly surprised by how well Mrs. Doubtfire has held up; it was made during a far simpler time when a famous dude dressing like a lady was nothing more than an off-color punchline. Part of me worried that it would now feel like something of a political hot potato in the midst of a culture war where people just won’t stop screaming about gender. Fortunately, the movie’s heart is in the right place: the script never punches down, and Williams keeps everything light and funny, which is a big part of why younger generations have adopted this movie as a memeworthy masterpiece.
Will Mrs. Doubtfire become your new problematic fave when you stream it on Hulu, or would you rather dress as an elderly British nanny before you watch this one through to the credits? There’s only one way to find out: grab your remote, kick your feet up, and stream this movie today. It’s the best way to honor one of Hollywood’s most legendary performers, and this is the perfect opportunity to watch what might be Robin Williams’ best and most ambitious film.
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