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Mrs. Doubtfire
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation


8.5

based on 16 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 4 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13

Starring Robin Williams, Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein, Lisa Jakub, Matthew Lawrence, Mara Wilson, and Robert Prosky

An unemployed actor (Williams) loses custody of his children after his wife leaves him. Desperate to spend more time with the kids, the crafty thespian decides to dress up as a 60-year-old British woman and interview with his ex-wife for a nanny position. He lands the job, but he'll have to give the performance of his life to keep it. (Fox)

GENRE(S):	Comedy \| Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Randi Mayem Singer Leslie Dixon Anne Fine (novel Alias Madame Doubtfire)
DIRECTED BY:	Chris Columbus
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: October 14, 2003 Video: March 12, 1996 Theatrical: November 24, 1993
RUNNING TIME:	125 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Best Makeup, 66th Annual Academy Awards; Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical (Williams), 1994 Golden Globes

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Variety Brian Lowry

Director Chris Columbus shrewdly brings together many of the same selling points as in his "Home Alone" movies, mixing broad comedic strokes with heavy-handed messages about the magical power of family.

Empire Caroline Westbrook

Although the broad comedy of the first half soon gives way to a tidal wave of entirely uncalled for sentimentality, this is still a laugh riot - the sight of our hero setting fire to his falsies never fails to amuse.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

And you will laugh till your ribs ache -- not because director Chris Columbus of the "Home Alone" movies has a gift for farce, which he does, but because Williams is to funny what the Energizer Bunny is to batteries. He keeps going and going and going.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Strictly speaking, it's not a top example of movie making, but it offers two hours of undeniably solid entertainment, and not too many viewers can argue with that.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Williams gives an inspired comic performance. Unfortunately, he outclasses the movie, which is basically a patchwork rip-off of Tootsie.

Time Richard Schickel

Most of the fun comes from seeing people fooled by what seems to us, who are in on the joke, a completely penetrable ruse. Curiously enough, what's really unpersuasive about Mrs. Doubtfire -- not to say draggy -- is its nondrag sequences.

TV Guide Staff(not credited)

Daniel is so hopelessly immature, and played with such puppy-dog overkill by Williams, that it's impossible to root for him--until you meet his wife, whom Sally Field makes even less appealing.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

But the film is not as amusing as the premise, and there were long stretches when I'd had quite enough of Mrs. Doubtfire.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Williams has to break out of a second-rate "Tootsie" imitation, ankles clamped in pathos and face covered in latex. He pulls it off in the end, but it's not pretty.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

The movie's biggest challenge, one that it does not exactly meet, is to persuade the audience that this husband and father's escapade is somehow an act of love.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

That Mrs. Doubtfire, a Tootsie Poppins for our times, misfires in the plausibility department and mis-aims its well-meaning if muddled messages about divorce doesn't matter. [24 Nov 1993 Pg. 01.D]

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Anyone looking for the kind of comic brio that Dustin Hoffman and company brought to "Tootsie" will not find it here. [24 Nov 1993 Pg. F1]

The New Yorker Terrence Rafferty

But the picture as a whole isn't in the class of "Tootsie" and "Some Like It Hot," mostly because its premise is sentimental, not cynical.

Austin Chronicle Robert Faires

It's just raw, uncoated stupidity that sticks in your throat.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Now that Robin Williams has been emasculated--dangerously schizoid comic turned into nice-guy movie star--it isn't too surprising that a commercial hack like Chris Columbus would use him the way he does in this cutesy 1993 comedy: cutting between Williams trying on different voices rather than holding the camera on him as he lurches between these voices without notice.

Film Threat Brad Laidman

Mrs. Doubtfire is overlong, barely funny, and a surprisingly bitter movie especially for a film aimed at children.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Gerrick C. gave it an8:
This movie allows for some seriousness along with some of William's comedic abilities. The movie has one overlying theme: family. Williams shows his sensitive side and his ability of portraying older women with funny accents. The movie is funny, sad, and also very good.

Patrick gave it a9:
Reviewers really annoy me... This is a great, funny film. To think that this was rated lower than all the overrated crap like Star Wars and lord Of The Rings really annoys me. Robin Williams is great in this, go watch it.

Myles #13 gave it a10:
Look... if you love Robin Williams's work (like I do), you will love this movie. Williams is at his very best in 'Mrs. Doubtfire'... every scene he's in will bring a smile and a laugh to your face. He manages to disappear within his disguise, the sign of a phenomenal actor... even though you know it's him, you'll have to think twice. MUST-SEE!

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Mrs. Doubtfire Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Mrs. Doubtfire
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation