Film-Reviewer
Joined May 2003
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Film-Reviewer's rating
In the years since it's release, 'Mrs. Doubtfire' is now not known for being a very good film, but instead the "Robin Williams in Drag Movie". Yes, Williams is in drag and dons lots of funny voices but the film is actually a heartbreaking and sometimes painful look at divorce but is still laugh out loud funny at many points and a highly entertaining film.
Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) is an eccentric dad who does voices for cartoons. After being fired and throwing his son a huge over the top birthday, his wife Miranda (Sally Field, in an excellent performance) decides it's time to do what she's been putting off for a long time... Divorce. Heartbroken at not being able to spend time with his children, Daniel uses his voice impersanation skills and a little make-up from his brother to become Mrs. Doubtfire, an eccentric English maid. But can he keep his guise for long enough?
What really is great about 'Doubtfire' is the performances. Robin Williams and Sally Field are on top form and play very well as both Daniel and Miranda, and Mrs. Doubtfire and Miranda. It's also a good sign when even supporting actors deliver excellent performances. Not only do we have three amazingly talented child actors, but Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein and others all impress in their small but memorable roles.
The remarkable thing is that the film doesn't dumb down divorce. It is divorce as it really happens, not a softened up version, but a warts and all version. This quality alone makes the film an even stronger picture. The directing is carried out by Chris Columbus (Only the Lonely, Home Alone, Harry Potter) who shows a real care for the characters. It's once in a blue moon when you can actually say that a children's film has excellent camerawork and dialogue. The writing is based on the children's book 'Alias Madame Doubtfire' by Anne Fine. It is expertly adapted by Leslie Dixon and Randi Singer. They also show a love of the characters and write great dialogue.
Overall, 'Mrs. Doubtfire' isn't just a Robin Williams vehicle, but a hilarious and touching look at the real pains of divorce...
Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) is an eccentric dad who does voices for cartoons. After being fired and throwing his son a huge over the top birthday, his wife Miranda (Sally Field, in an excellent performance) decides it's time to do what she's been putting off for a long time... Divorce. Heartbroken at not being able to spend time with his children, Daniel uses his voice impersanation skills and a little make-up from his brother to become Mrs. Doubtfire, an eccentric English maid. But can he keep his guise for long enough?
What really is great about 'Doubtfire' is the performances. Robin Williams and Sally Field are on top form and play very well as both Daniel and Miranda, and Mrs. Doubtfire and Miranda. It's also a good sign when even supporting actors deliver excellent performances. Not only do we have three amazingly talented child actors, but Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein and others all impress in their small but memorable roles.
The remarkable thing is that the film doesn't dumb down divorce. It is divorce as it really happens, not a softened up version, but a warts and all version. This quality alone makes the film an even stronger picture. The directing is carried out by Chris Columbus (Only the Lonely, Home Alone, Harry Potter) who shows a real care for the characters. It's once in a blue moon when you can actually say that a children's film has excellent camerawork and dialogue. The writing is based on the children's book 'Alias Madame Doubtfire' by Anne Fine. It is expertly adapted by Leslie Dixon and Randi Singer. They also show a love of the characters and write great dialogue.
Overall, 'Mrs. Doubtfire' isn't just a Robin Williams vehicle, but a hilarious and touching look at the real pains of divorce...
There are few novelists like the late Ian Fleming. His books weren't just collections of words wrote over a couple of months, they were masterpieces and excellent books. After writing the so-so 'Dr. No', he wrote his longest and most fantastical book: 'Goldfinger'. Whereas all his other books were very real and had real situations, 'Goldfinger' had gold girls, a raid on Fort Knox, a woman called Pussy Galore and a Korean henchman with a deadly bowler's hat. Sadly, 'Goldfinger' is actually one of his weakest and seems to have took some life out of Fleming but he made up with it by writing several better books afterwards. However, after the first two James Bond films were hits, 'Goldfinger' was chosen as number 3. Was this a good or bad choice? We'll see...
Starting off with a real whopper of a pre-credits scene featuring everything we've come to know and love about the legend that is James Bond, we're thrown into Auric Goldfinger's (Gert Grobe) plan to raid Fort Knox with the help of henchman oddjob (Harold Sakata) and lesbian Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman). It's up to 007 (Sean Connery) to stop his devious plan!
First of all, this film has good performances all around. Connery is at his peak here and is helped along by the deliciously evil Frobe. Blackman is also deliciously evil and just plain delicious as Pussy Galore. Add to that the menacing Harold Sakata and even small players like Cec Linder and you've got yourself a superb cast. There's not one bad egg in this lot.
Veteran Bond writer Richard Maibum with Paul Dehn has wrote a mostly faithful adaptation to Fleming's book with a few realistic plot changes for the better. On the directing side, Guy Hamilton is truly the best. It's thanks to him this film looks so good and is so re-watchable.
Of course, this film is the ultimate Bond film. It may have several faults and isn't as good as some of the other films but it's a definite improvment over the book and it's Bond, and everyone else, at his best.
Starting off with a real whopper of a pre-credits scene featuring everything we've come to know and love about the legend that is James Bond, we're thrown into Auric Goldfinger's (Gert Grobe) plan to raid Fort Knox with the help of henchman oddjob (Harold Sakata) and lesbian Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman). It's up to 007 (Sean Connery) to stop his devious plan!
First of all, this film has good performances all around. Connery is at his peak here and is helped along by the deliciously evil Frobe. Blackman is also deliciously evil and just plain delicious as Pussy Galore. Add to that the menacing Harold Sakata and even small players like Cec Linder and you've got yourself a superb cast. There's not one bad egg in this lot.
Veteran Bond writer Richard Maibum with Paul Dehn has wrote a mostly faithful adaptation to Fleming's book with a few realistic plot changes for the better. On the directing side, Guy Hamilton is truly the best. It's thanks to him this film looks so good and is so re-watchable.
Of course, this film is the ultimate Bond film. It may have several faults and isn't as good as some of the other films but it's a definite improvment over the book and it's Bond, and everyone else, at his best.
After finishing 'The World is Not Enough', the filmmakers realized instead of having the next film ready in the next 2 years as usual, they would wait 3 years and be able to celebrate both the 20th film and the 40th anniversary of Bond's introduction (And, I believe, 50 years since Fleming sat down to write the first book). With that came 'Die Another Day', a film surrounded by hype and rumours spreading from a lesbian kiss between Halle Berry and Madonna to fatal injuries on set. No matter what's true or not, this is an exciting Bond film perfect for Bond being thrown into the new millenium.
Plot? Well, Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is accused of being a traitor after being held captive for a whopping 14 months and once he is released, tries to find out the link between a North Korean terrorist (Will Yun Lee) and a snooty diamond broker (Toby Stephens) with help from Q (John Cleese) and an exciting girl named Jinx (Halle Berry) along the way.
So, how does this film turn out? Is it worthy of it's hype and status as the all holy 20th film in the franchise? Well, yes. It never lets you go for two hours straight and is simply one of the best Bond films. There have been many complaints: Bad theme song (I like it), bad CGI (Distracting at first but what CGI isn't?) and just a general bad quality but this film is enjoyment from start to finish.
Brosnan is a delight from start to finish and obviously loves playing 007. Halle Berry is very good as Jinx, the female agent, and plays it both sexy and intelligent. Rosamund Pike is very nice as Miranda Frost (Oh, chilly!) and Toby Stephens makes for an excellent and ruthless if deceiving villain. A mention goes out to Rick Yune as diamond faced Zao, the best Bond henchman since Dario in 'Licence to Kill'. The MI6 team is here with one absence. Desmon Llewelyn who died in his 80's due to a car crash shortly after the last film. May he rest in peace. John Cleese takes over as Q after his amusing turn as R, Q's assistant, in the previous film. He suits up Bond with his gadgets and gets some amusing lines along the way. Judi Dench is brilliant as M and even better than the last 3 films. Samantha Bond returns as Moneypenny and it's her most amusing yet.
Neil Purvis and Robert Wade are screenwriters here and very good ones as well. They manage to keep the film enjoyable yet have interesting characters and story too. Director Lee Tamahori has a difficult time picking up from the impressive Michael Apted but he proves to be an excellent and fitting choice for director.
So, 20th film, 40th anniversary, what's the verdict? It wins on all counts. A great film, although it has flaws, with great performances all around and obviously a fun film to make. It's very different from the much more character driven 19th film 'The World is Not Enough' and it provides a nice breather for two hours.
Plot? Well, Bond (Pierce Brosnan) is accused of being a traitor after being held captive for a whopping 14 months and once he is released, tries to find out the link between a North Korean terrorist (Will Yun Lee) and a snooty diamond broker (Toby Stephens) with help from Q (John Cleese) and an exciting girl named Jinx (Halle Berry) along the way.
So, how does this film turn out? Is it worthy of it's hype and status as the all holy 20th film in the franchise? Well, yes. It never lets you go for two hours straight and is simply one of the best Bond films. There have been many complaints: Bad theme song (I like it), bad CGI (Distracting at first but what CGI isn't?) and just a general bad quality but this film is enjoyment from start to finish.
Brosnan is a delight from start to finish and obviously loves playing 007. Halle Berry is very good as Jinx, the female agent, and plays it both sexy and intelligent. Rosamund Pike is very nice as Miranda Frost (Oh, chilly!) and Toby Stephens makes for an excellent and ruthless if deceiving villain. A mention goes out to Rick Yune as diamond faced Zao, the best Bond henchman since Dario in 'Licence to Kill'. The MI6 team is here with one absence. Desmon Llewelyn who died in his 80's due to a car crash shortly after the last film. May he rest in peace. John Cleese takes over as Q after his amusing turn as R, Q's assistant, in the previous film. He suits up Bond with his gadgets and gets some amusing lines along the way. Judi Dench is brilliant as M and even better than the last 3 films. Samantha Bond returns as Moneypenny and it's her most amusing yet.
Neil Purvis and Robert Wade are screenwriters here and very good ones as well. They manage to keep the film enjoyable yet have interesting characters and story too. Director Lee Tamahori has a difficult time picking up from the impressive Michael Apted but he proves to be an excellent and fitting choice for director.
So, 20th film, 40th anniversary, what's the verdict? It wins on all counts. A great film, although it has flaws, with great performances all around and obviously a fun film to make. It's very different from the much more character driven 19th film 'The World is Not Enough' and it provides a nice breather for two hours.