I used to dislike this film when I was a kid, the whole premise of a man pretending to be a woman was quite lame. But now I realise that this film is about way more than that. The relationship dynamics are extremely complex and subtle. Pierce Brosnan and Sally Field both give spectacular performances, and then there's also Mara Wilson and Robin Williams too, they performed okay, but were chosen perfect for this film. You'd think that the film would be all about silly jokes, but there is a lot of exploration of the relationships, some of the best ideas are that the wife can't talk it out with her husband as he is always silly and whimsical, yet she can talk herself out with Mrs. Doubtfire who is a great listener. It isn't as much about the husband trying to deceitfully get the information out of his wife as it is about him realising how much of an awful husband he is. Most movies like this would most definitely make the mom character a really unlikeable antagonist, but here, if you look closely, it is the protagonist who is the villain. He is truly a despicable person in many ways, he is an extremely manipulative liar, a creepy stalker and unfairly malicious to Stu, who also is a special character in this film. In most movies Stu would be portrayed as a seemingly nice guy at front, but a complete jerk with evil plans in reality, but here he is actually a very nice and caring person for the most part, except that he is rich and spoiled and scornful towards Daniel when no one of Daniel's family is around, and it is part of his character, but he does not mean it in a malicious way which makes him a flawed but great person as we can see, he not only cares for his crush, but he really loves her children too. Getting back to the Daniel character, who even though is a horrible husband, he is also an amazing father as the majority of the malicious things he does are for the sake of his children, it really makes one wonder that when one loves, one can do miraculous deeds, but with the vices of pride or envy, one can simultaneously perform pernicious actions. And I don't think that these characters even have self-awareness of their actions whenever they perpetrate them, yet if they knew they'd drown in deep remorse as actually can be seen in the scene where Daniel puts pepper on the dish. What a brilliant film!
Review of Mrs. Doubtfire
