COMEDY: THE FORMS, PART II: MRS. DOUBTFIRE, THREE OF HEARTS
As for the comedy parts, there are the usual jokes about what happens when a man becomes a woman, including a bus driver (Sydney Walker) being attracted to Mrs. Doubtfire, even if she does have a hairy leg. And certainly, there are funny sequences, as when Daniel is pretending to be other bad housekeepers on the phone to frighten Miranda ("I am job!"), or when he's demonstrating his vocal talents to a job counselor (Anne Haney) who's unimpressed. But farce depends on feeling fast and snappy, and too often this is labored, as when Daniel has to be himself and Mrs. Doubtfire at the same restaurant. And too often, the comedy feels extraneous, rather than essential, as when we see Daniel initially being turned into Mrs. Doubtfire - SOME LIKE IT HOT and TOOTSIE were all the funnier because they didn't bother with the process.
Williams can be the funniest man on the planet when he's on the role, but here he tries to be lovable as well, and that kills him. And as I said before, his comic riffs too often slow the film down, rather than seem part of it. The rest of the cast is there just to play straight to Williams (except, of course, for Fierstein, who does his own shtick), though Brosnan at least makes you believe Field would be ready to marry him, and Robert Prosky is his usual dependable self as a TV station manager. But overall, MRS. DOUBTFIRE leaves you doubting Hollywood's ability to make family comedies anymore.
THREE OF HEARTS drags out the tired premise of a man wooing a woman on behalf of her ex, and then falling in love with her himself. The twist here is the ex is a woman. Now, good comedies have been made from old premises before, but this isn't one of them, even if there is the germ of a good movie trapped inside.
Connie (Kelly Lynch) is a nurse who is devasted when her lover Ellen (Sherilyn Fenn), an English professor who's afraid of her feelings, dumps her. Connie still hasn't told her family she's a lesbian, so she hires a male escort to take her to a family wedding. Joe (William Baldwin), the escort, turns out to charm her, even though she's not interested in him, and when he needs a place to stay, she offers him a proposition - he can stay with her if he'll
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