Mrs. Doubtfire (DVD)

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Forget about "Frankenstein" or the "Phantom of the Opera." If you ask me, the scariest movie make-up job ever is the one they did on Robin Williams in "Mrs. Doubtfire." And we learn, in this new "Behind-the-Seams" edition, that there were three looks they tried on Williams. All three are included here, so you can secretly vote on whether they picked the right one. Personally, if any version of this old lady had turned up on my doorstep in response to an ad for a nanny-housekeeper, I would have dialed 911.

If you can get past the unsettling look of Williams in make-up (so strikingly hideous that you hardly even notice he's also in drag), "Mrs. Doubtfire" is an underappreciated romantic comedy-plus that gives Williams a chance to do what he does best: improvise. It also offers some semi-serious help for children coping with estranged or divorcing parents. In this department, it's probably one of the most honest portrayals of the love-hate relationship that can emerge when a couple divorces, and how they have to work through their own feelings for the good of the children. Both parties might not necessarily feel purely antagonistic, as is the case here. One might want to get back together, while the other just wants to move on, and this dose of reality is a welcome change from the "Kramer vs. Kramer" model.

What's more, "Mrs. Doubtfire" isn't just a Robin Williams vehicle. At the core of the script is an offbeat romantic triangle that features two heavy-hitters who are well able to hold their own with the flamboyant comedian: Sally Field (as Daniel's ex-) and Pierce Brosnan (as the old would-be flame who turns on the jets at this opportune moment). Their reaction shots are as funny as anything that Williams does.

"Mrs. Doubtfire" is the kind of film that could have been the silliest darned thing. A divorced dad denied custody and only given supervised visitation once a week dresses up like an old lady and applies for the nanny-housekeeping job his ex- advertises, just so he can be close to the kids he dearly loves. But director Chris Columbus does a pretty good job of handling Williams, reining him in on emotional scenes to avoid the cloying moments we endured in "Patch Adams," and using the script from first-timer Randi Mayem Singer to turn Williams loose in logical spots. The rest of the time, Columbus gives his star just enough room to toss off quick-witted ad libs and enliven scenes without pushing them over the top. When, for example, Daniel-as-Doubtfire is at dinner and his false teeth fall into a glass of water, Williams quips, "Carpe dentum . . . seize the teeth," in obvious allusion to his "carpe diem" speech from "Dead Poets Society" (1989). There are a number of moments like that--clever ones--where Williams' ad libs are more witty than zany, and you have to wonder if his character didn't keep him honest. After all, how zany can an old lady be, before she becomes the granny from the old Wendy's "Where's the beef?" commercials?

But there's serious stuff going on, too. The script, based on Anne Fine's novel Alias Madame Doubtfire, softens the blow for children splitting their time between two parents by not raising false hopes. Though Mrs. Doubtfire makes such a positive difference in all their lives and Miranda (Field) says she's never been so happy, the film dodges the clichéd happy ending and offers a different kind of happily-ever-after that's more realistic.

When the film does go a bit over-the-top, it's not when Daniel interacts with his immediate family. Rather, it's in scenes with minor characters. In one sequence, Daniel's gay brother (Harvey Fierstein) and "Aunt Jack" (Scott Capurro) set him up with an old lady's prosthetic vest and rubber make-up mask, while in another, a horrified social worker (Ann Haney) looks on as a de-masked Mrs. Doubtfire has to improvise a whipped cream mask that subsequently drips into the social worker's tea. A similar over-the-top moment occurs when a dinner that Daniel has with the big-shot at a television station (Robert Prosky) turns into a clichéd, overwrought good-ol'-boy game of down-the-scotch. But for the rest of the film, Williams stays comfortably within his character, as he did in "Good Morning, Vietnam"--ably balancing the range of emotions and ad-libbing required of him.