To think the mum in Mrs Doubtfire was the victim of a prick manchild ex?

[KarenNotAKaren]

Watching Mrs Doubtfire. Haven’t watched this is years, it’s such a favourite! As a child I remember thinking how mean Sally Field’s character is, and how cool Robin Williams is.

As a mother, I now have 100% changed my mind.

Williams’s character is a pathetic man child who can’t hold down a job. I’d have had it off with Pierce Brosnan too and probably would have done everything in my power to keep custody while Disney Dad, who can’t even keep a clean house until he ‘becomes a woman’, tells inappropriate jokes.

Listening to a crime podcast which said that mask tech is so good now that even when you explain this to subjects they will still deny that the person in front of them is wearing a mask. Not saying it was that great in the film, but thought it was really interesting.

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I just watched it this afternoon and thought how times have changed. The son wants to call the police because someone passing as a woman turns out to be a man so must be perverted and untrustworthy. And doesn't want to hug his dad because he feels natural revulsion with him in the guise of a woman. I'm amazed that the film hasn't been cancelled for transphobia!

That's the point of the film, she would have just stayed with him if he'd been a good husband... that would have been a boring shit film to watch

no I'm sure OP thinks it was a documentary 🙄

People are allowed to discuss films/tv...there's billion dollar industry and specific university courses devoted to doing so...

And presumably the reason the mother works so much and doesn't see her kids is because someone has to pay for food and housing for said kids as their dad doesn't have a job...

The run-by fruiting gets me every time 🤣 Some funny bits, some creepy as fuck bits but I loved it.

Yeah I never really got that. If he doesnt have a job, why isn't he looking after the kids and running the household in the first place?

Various keyboard warrior TRAs have tried that over the years. Pops up in articles and on Reddit etc periodically.

The film has definitely aged questionably but the parents were equally dickish at times.

He is? The mum is a lawyer, he's a sahd but doesn't pay much attention to cleaning and goes overboard on the fun stuff. Like the bday party, which is the last straw for the mum with all the animals and the mess. She says I can't trust you to look after them and keep clean while I work, that's why they split up! And why he doesn't have a job, although I think he writes TV shows unsuccessfully the whole time, until his break as Mrs D with the dinosaurs.

Yes I agree! I remember as a child thinking how mean she was, but the dad was such a useless dad, intent on being disney dad all the time and not thinking about what was best for them.

The only redeeming feature about this film is that they don't reunite as a couple at the end, as PP pointed out. I found that refreshing as an adult as the happy-family ending would've been the easier route to take (hello, 'Liar, Liar').

😂😂

Definitely agree about him as a crap husband who was probably like an additional child to deal with at times, but wasn't part of the point of it all that he very slowly started to realise this, as both parents gradually learned to move on (towards the ultimately fairly happy ending?)

I'm going purely from memory here (and if has been AGES!) but I'm sure there is a scene where Daniel (as Mrs Doubtfire) and Miranda(?) are talking, and she explains how she didn't like who she was when she was with him, how she became "this horrible person" (the implication being that it was due to his behaviour?), and that she didn't want her kids growing up with a mother like that. And his voice sort of briefly returns to his own momentarily as he looks genuinely concerned/upset, and says something like "but you never..." and then corrects his voice and question and asks (as Mrs D) "Did you never say anything to him, dear?" And she replies "Daniel never liked to talk about anything serious".

i always saw that scene as him beginning to truly start to see things from her point of view /realise his own failings and how she couldn't talk to him, due to the way he was, and how he was ... maybe not dragging her down as such, but bringing out the worst in her by being such an irresponsible pain in the arse! Of course, this was still before he tried to poison Stu with the pepper, so it didn't result in his immediate redemption as a character.... but that final scene was necessary for the Big Reveal and also hilarious (well to teenage me!) Miranda's horrified "the WHOLE time?!" was just spot on as it all slowly dawned on her!

Purely my own interpretation of course...but I always viewed the conversation between Daniel/Mrs D and Miranda as a real moment of self-awareness for his character and a sort of positive character development.... I absolutely loved the film as a child, although can well imagine that many aspects probably haven't aged well at all!

Just to state again that I haven't seen this film for YEARS, merely watched it a lot as a teenager.... so happy to be corrected if I have remembered wrong/accidentally merged two different scenes in my mind or something!

None of this means he WASN'T a massively childish and frustrating husband of course....just that I always saw it as intentional/key to the story and its development? And ultimately it seemed that their relationship did look like it improved (as separated co-parents who had probably to realise that they genuinely were better off apart.....) I remember genuinely finding the ending comforting, with divorced parents myself.

Having said that, would hardly dare go back and watch it again now just in case it really isn't as I remember! Interesting thread!

I just hate the idea that we're supposed to be amused by this loser invading his ex wife's home and trying to disrupt her relationship. It's troubling and should have ended in a prison sentence.

It's just a comedy film, literally no need to read anything into it 🤷‍♀️

I also recently rewatched this for the first time as an adult and thought the same...I commented to my OH that I would have divorced him too after the party scene! I was also surprised by all the "adult" bits that obviously just went over my head as a child...e.g. 'Winston's idea of foreplay was "Effie, brace yourself!"'😂

She’s an interior designer. Clearly a very lucrative job given the size of their house, and her ability to hire a housekeeper!

I think it’s a great film - very funny and enjoyed watching it again with the family.

I used to really enjoy reading Anne Fine’s books when I was a child. I can’t remember the storylines but I remember Flour Babies and Crummy Mummy and Me made me laugh a lot! They are probably a bit dated now, but I think she wrote about difficult topics and make them relatable to children, to show not everything was all that bad.

Neither parents were amazing, they were flawed but aren’t we all?!

One thing for sure is that Robin Williams character deeply loved his children, hence why he went to the end of the earth to see them. I don’t know many dads that would have done that.

It is really interesting looking back at mother and father dynamics; I was born in the 90's and Mrs Doubtfire was a firm favourite of mine.

As a child you definitely empathise with poor Robin Williams, but really he was a chaotic and immature figure. The mum is portrayed to be a tired killjoy.

I think what is poignant for me is, I had the same relationship with my parents as a child and see things completely differently now. As a kid my dad seemed happy, relaxed and patient, while to be honest my memories of my mum were that she was out all the time, and when she was in she was stressed, yelling, and cleaning.

The truth is my dad was a SAHD with quite a drink problem and my mum worked in a stressful but well paying job, doing housework whenever she wasn't at work.

Once again it's a product of the a huge mental load imbalance entrenched by gender roles. It's depressing how thankless society is toward mothers.

I still love the movie though and I don't think Williams' character was a bad guy at all, just unappreciative (which I believe changes over his arch in the movie).

Yep how this is unironically played for laughs with the whole "he's a she, she's a he" lines does make me really uncomfortable rewatching these days, completely agree.

You really have no idea that even popular culture can be interesting and be fun to think about?

I'm too old to have seen this as a child but isn't it the point that he was a crap husband and father who turned it around when he 'became' a woman? Plus it's really just a comedy vehicle for Robin Williams, who I found pretty funny.

Don't be ridiculous, just unnecessary IMO to overthink so much over a comedy film. Surely the whole point is to not overthink those sorts of films. I'm allowed to have an opinion about it like everyone else on here.

Every piece of art and media in existence is a reflection of something - someone's lone opinion maybe, but it's usually an indicator of more widely held views. It is always communicating something.

Art imitates life! All art can and should be dissected and discussed, it's one of the joys of being human