All That Chat - re: Doubt about Mrs. Doubtfire

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re: Doubt about Mrs. Doubtfire
Posted by: FortPeck 04:21 pm EST 02/15/20
In reply to: Doubt about Mrs. Doubtfire - Kerick 12:34 pm EST 02/15/20

I had the movie on in my hotel on my visit to NYC last week, and I was struck by how creepy the entire premise is: the woman's ex-husband is basically living in her house and taking care of her kids based on false pretenses. Yes, I get it - their divorce is not acrimonious, he is crazy about his kids, it's all well-intentioned, he's charming and has a good heart, Pierce Brosnan is secretly the real jerk. But still. The deception, played for laughs, really struck me this time around as creepy. YMMV, but how a show engineers around that without the charm of Robin Williams and Sally Field, and the seductions of high-net-worth San Francisco.....I am not sure.
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re: Doubt about Mrs. Doubtfire
Posted by: kess0078 08:30 am EST 02/16/20
In reply to: re: Doubt about Mrs. Doubtfire - FortPeck 04:21 pm EST 02/15/20

Have you seen the whole thing? Sure, the premise is “creepy,” as you say. But, (SPOILERS AHEAD) pardon my language, the sh*t DOES hit the fan - he doesn’t get away with it. He gets found out by the kids first, and soon after his ex as well, and it isn’t pretty. (Sally Field’s now infamous line reading of “The whole time!!?? The whole time???? The whole time.” is a bit of a cultural touchstone for people my age who grew up watching this film.) He faces repercussions for choosing to deceive his family. Plenty of brilliant comedies have their characters making ethically questionable decisions, and this one actually has some comeuppance. I think if the stage show leans a little harder into that arc of the second half of the story - the reveal and its aftermath, it works just fine.
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