Mrs Doubtfire

Plot

Daniel Hillard is a freelance voice actor in San Francisco. Though a devoted father to his children Lydia, Chris, and Natalie, his wife Miranda considers him unreliable. One day, Daniel quits his job and returns home to throw a lavish birthday party for Chris despite Miranda's objections, creating a situation with their neighbors. Miranda files for divorce, and the judge gives sole custody of the children to her, but tells Daniel if he can find a steady job and a suitable residence within three months, he will agree to share joint custody.

Daniel works to rebuild his life, getting a manager job at a local television station, and learns that Miranda is seeking a housekeeper to watch over the children. He secretly alters her classified ad form to keep other interested people away, and then uses his voice acting skills to call Miranda about the job, making them all undesirable applicants. He then calls Miranda as a Scottish-accented nanny, whom he calls Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire, with strong credentials. Miranda is impressed and invites her for an interview. Daniel gets help from his brother Frank, a makeup artist, and his partner Jack to create a Mrs. Doubtfire persona, including a prosthetic mask to make him appear as an older woman.

Miranda hires Mrs. Doubtfire after the impressive interview. The children initially struggle with Mrs. Doubtfire's ways, but soon come around and thrive, and further, Miranda learns to become closer with her children. Daniel, as Mrs. Doubtfire, learns several household skills as part of the role, further improving himself. However, this has created another barrier for Daniel to see his children, as Miranda has put more trust into Mrs. Doubtfire than him, and she could never dismiss her. One day, Lydia and Chris discover Daniel's ploy, and while thrilled to have their father back, agree to keep his secret.

While working at the station, Daniel is seen by the station's CEO Jonathan Lundy playing with toy dinosaurs on the set of a cancelled children's show. Impressed by his voice acting and imagination, Lundy asks Daniel to join him for a dinner at Bridge's Restaurant to discuss giving him his own children's show to host. Daniel discovers this is to be on the same night and time as a planned birthday dinner for Miranda by her new boyfriend Stu Dunmire at the same restaurant, which Mrs. Doubtfire has been invited to. Unable to change either appointment, Daniel decides to try to rotate in and out of the Mrs. Doubtfire outfit to attend both events.

As the dinners progress, a drunken Daniel starts making mistakes after changing in and out of costume, which he quickly recovers. Stu starts choking on his dinner, and Daniel, in the Mrs. Doubtfire outfit, gives him the Heimlich maneuver. The action causes the prosthetic mask to rip, revealing his identity, and horrifying Miranda.

At their next custody hearing, Daniel explains about how he met the judge's requirements as well as his actions. However, Miranda is awarded full custody of the children, with Daniel limited to supervised visitation every Saturday, much to his and Miranda's dismay, because Miranda knew he never meant any harm. Without Mrs. Doubtfire, Miranda and her children become miserable, recognizing how much Mrs. Doubtfire improved their lives. They are surprised when the local station starts a new children's show "Euphegenia's House" which Daniel, in the Mrs. Doubtfire outfit, hosts. The show becomes a hit and starts airing across the country.

Miranda visits Daniel after one recording and admits they were happier when he was involved, and agrees to change the custody rights. Soon after, Miranda is able to hire Daniel as the children's new babysitter, allowing him to see them every day after school—essentially what he was able to do as Mrs. Doubtfire. As Daniel takes the kids out, Miranda watches an episode of "Euphegenia's House" where Mrs. Doubtfire answers a letter from a young girl whose parents have separated, saying no matter what arrangements families have, love will prevail.

Filming

Chicago was the studio's first choice for filming. However, as two new television series (ER and Chicago Hope) had a lease with the city during the subsequent time period, production was relocated to San Francisco. Various locations in the city were used during filming. Parts were filmed at the studios of television station KTVU in Oakland. Street signs for the intersection near the "Painted Lady" home, Steiner, and Broadway, were visible onscreen.

The exact address 2640 Steiner Street 37°47′38.07″N 122°26′10.78″W became a tourist attraction for some time after the film's release. Following the by-then terminally ill Williams's death by suicide on August 11, 2014, the house became an impromptu memorial. All interior filming for the home took place in a Bay Area warehouse converted for sound stage usage. Williams's character, Daniel Hillard, lived upstairs from Danilo Bakery at 516 Green Street; his children attended a school at Filbert and Taylor.

The makeup for Mrs. Doubtfire's appearance took four hours to apply. Williams later recounted how he used to walk through San Francisco dressed in full makeup and costume as Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire, and on one occasion, visiting a sex shop to buy a large dildo and other toys.

The restaurant scene was filmed at Bridges Restaurant & Bar, in Danville, California.

Music

1. "Mrs. Doubtfire" – 2:58
2. "Divorce" – 2:56
3. "My Name Is Else Immelman" – 2:55
4. "Meeting Mrs. Doubtfire" – 2:14
5. "Tea Time with Mrs. Sellner" – 3:58
6. "Dinner Is Served" – 2:18
7. "Daniel and the Kids" – 2:29
8. "Cable Cars" – 4:56
9. "Bridges Restaurant" – 6:13
10. "Show's Over" – 3:26
11. "The Kids Need You" – 3:21
12. "Figaro / Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" – 3:23

The score was composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Howard Shore. The CD was mastered by Ted Jensen. The song Robin Williams sings at the cartoon voice-over in the beginning is "Largo al factotum." Other songs featured often were chosen referencing the identity of Mrs. Doubtfire. These songs include:

Additionally, these songs were featured:

Release

The film was released in the United States on November 24, 1993, and was rated PG-13.

In January of 1994, when released in the United Kingdom, the film received a certificate of 12 which, at the time, completely refused access to children under the age of 12 at cinemas. This resulted in cinemas requesting their local authorities to override the decision of the British Board of Film Classification, after having to turn down disappointed families. In February of 1994, The Independent reported that the censors refused the film a U or PG certificate, and gave it a 12 instead, which was due to 20th Century Fox refusing to remove three controversial lines.

After the film's distributors requested the BBFC to reconsider, a compromise was reached in which the film was re-rated PG with the thirteen seconds of sexual innuendos cut, and it was re-released in May of 1994. The cut version was also used in subsequent VHS and DVD releases in the United Kingdom. In November of 2012, the distributors resubmitted the uncut version to the BBFC, and the 12 certificate was reinstated. On March 4, 2013, the uncut version was released on Blu-ray and downloads in the United Kingdom.

Deleted scenes

Over 30 minutes of deleted scenes were omitted from the final cut of the film, some of which were featured in the 2008 DVD release of Mrs. Doubtfire, called the "Behind-the-Seams Edition." These include an entire subplot featuring Daniel's conflict with his nosy neighbor Gloria (Polly Holliday) and an extended scene at Bridgers restaurant. In 2016 three further scenes were released to much fanfare and praise for the late Robin Williams.These included a scene where Daniel and Miranda fight at Lydia's spelling bee competition and a confrontation scene with Miranda after Daniel's identity is revealed at the restaurant.

Box office

The film earned $219,195,243 in the United States, along with $222,090,952 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $441,286,195, making it the highest grossing cross-dressing film. It became the second-highest grossing film of 1993, behind only Jurassic Park. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 52.6 million tickets in the US.

Critical reception

At the time of its release, several critics compared Mrs. Doubtfire unfavorably with Some Like It Hot (1959) and others who viewed the film favorably noted its similarity to Tootsie (1982).

On Rotten Tomatoes, Mrs. Doubtfire has a rating of 71%, based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's critical reception reads, "On paper, Mrs. Doubtfire might seem excessively broad or sentimental, but Robin Williams shines so brightly in the title role that the end result is difficult to resist." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 53 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Accolades

In 2000, the American Film Institute placed the film on its 100 Years...100 Laughs list, where it was ranked #67.

Cancelled sequel

In 2001, Mrs. Doubtfire 2 began being developed by Bonnie Hunt, even though Anne Fine had not written any follow-up novels to Alias Madame Doubtfire, but writing did not begin until 2003. Robin Williams was set to return in disguise as an old nanny. Due to problems with the script, re-writing began in 2006, as Williams was unhappy with the plot, and the sequel was again scrapped later that year. The film was expected to be released in late 2007, but following further script problems, the sequel was declared scrapped in December 2006.

In 2006, in an Newsday interview, Williams said the sequel was indefinitely scrapped. Stating his reasons, he said, "The script they had just didn't work." The sequel's story involved Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire moving close to Lydia's college, so he could keep an eye on her. In December 2006, during an interview on BBC Radio 1 by DJ Edith Bowman, Williams said that if it was not going to be done right, then it was not worth doing, and that there would not be a sequel with him in it.

In August of 2010, on Alan Carr: Chatty Man, Williams again brought up the topic of a sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire. He blamed the script not being right as the reason why a sequel was not made. He claimed the script had been written three times and failed, and there was no mention of any ongoing work on the project. Furthermore, in December of 2011, during an interview by Moviehole, Williams stated again that the chances of a sequel are "highly unlikely."

Williams stated in 2011:

"They could never write it. They kept trying and it doesn’t work...because at the end of the first one they reveal who [Mrs. Doubtfire] is. So it ends up being her for five minutes and then she transitions into some old Russian woman. They so far can’t crack it.”

In 2014, Chris Columbus stated, in turn:

In April of 2014, it was announced that a sequel was in development at 20th Century Fox. Williams and Columbus were expected to return, and Elf screenwriter David Berenbaum was hired to write the script. But after Williams, by then terminally ill, committed suicide in August of 2014, plans for a sequel were permanently cancelled.