There's a scene here, for example, where Williams "does" a dozen voices for an employment counselor, and the movie stops cold for this vaudeville act, just as the Marx Brothers movies always paused for Harpo's instrumental solos.Īny review of "Mrs. But a little of that goes a long way, and already has. But it doesn't explode with humor the way it really should.Įveryone knows that Williams is a mercurial talent who loves to dart in and out of many different characters and voices. Doubtfire must be in the same restaurant at the same time, at different tables. (This is necessary for plot purposes, I guess otherwise, why would a skilled and experienced voice-over actor not be able to make more money in his original field?).Īll this leads up to the movie's climactic comic set-piece, when, for complicated reasons, both Daniel and Mrs. Daniel has been ordered to find work by the judge and is employed as a shipping clerk at a TV station. His wife turns up with a new boyfriend ( Pierce Brosnan), and Daniel, in drag, has to stand by and grind his teeth as the romance progresses. Doubtfire turns out to be the nanny from heaven, so firm, so helpful, so reassuring, that if Daniel had been at all like this, he'd still be married. Not good enough to fool one's own kith and kin, I suppose, but we can allow the movie its premise.
Doubtfire, a younger but not slimmer Miss Marple. And so he turns in desperation to his gay brother, Frank ( Harvey Fierstein), a makeup expert, who helps disguise him as the redoubtable Mrs. The judge gives Daniel visitation rights only on Saturdays.
His wife Miranda ( Sally Field) can no longer endure his little eccentricities, like hiring a private zoo for their son's birthday party. That means we get a title sequence showing him talking like a cat and a mouse, and since he's done such a brilliant job with characters like the genie in " Aladdin," this is fun to see.īut soon the plot machinery begins to creak. Williams stars in the movie as Daniel Hillard, an actor who specializes in dubbing the voices of cartoon characters.