The other night I was looking for something on TV to zone out to, and "Mrs. Doubtfire" was on. I enjoyed the movie when I was younger and figured it would make for good background entertainment while I played on my iPod Touch. Instead, I became somewhat engrossed in the movie while trying to figure out what it was that so entertained me when I was younger.

The story: Robin Williams plays an unemployed actor who pretends to be a woman that his ex-wife hires as a housekeeper so he can spend time with his kids. (My BF tells me that "Tootsie" does a better job with this story idea, though I've never seen it [it came out before I was born].)

I had thought the plot of "Mrs. Doubtfire" and the craaaaazy situations were hilarious. Now, I can't wrap my mind around how this could have worked. (Yes, I know it's just a movie, and Hollywood happenings don't have to be real, but they should be plausible, or plausible in the setting in which they exist [magic is OK in a movie that establishes that magic exists, for example].) Eighteen years after the movie was in theaters, I keep asking myself, "How did this get made?"

First of all, logistics: How the heck did Mrs. Doubtfire get paid? Did Miranda write a check to "Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire"? How did a man named Daniel cash that check?

Secondly: Didn't Miranda think to call references before hiring a housekeeper? Who in their right mind hires someone to care for their children without checking them out with someone else who has employed that person?

The final restaurant scene: Daniel and Mrs. Doubtfire - who are the same person - need to be in the same place at the same time! How will he ever pull it off?!?! (Spoiler alert: He doesn't.) You can't spend that much time away from your dinnermates without them wondering what the heck is going on with you. Also, drinking a lot of alcohol doesn't help. I didn't catch the fact that he was drunk when I was younger, so the stumbling around of Mrs. Doubtfire made a little more sense this time around.

And after you've spend 15 years married to the same person, wouldn't you recognize their eyes? Even with the mask, the wig and the body suit, the eyes are still the same. Shouldn't Miranda have figured out it was Daniel?

I don't think I'll be watching this movie again.

Sidenote: This movie probably shouldn't be watched in the two-hour timeslot on cable television. The film runs at 125 minutes, but the version I caught the other night made it in 120 - including commercials - probably cutting out nearly an hour of movie. (On second thought, maybe it's better that way?) I don't remember the movie well enough to know which scenes were omitted, so maybe some of my above questions were resolved in parts that didn't make the cut.


-- Cheryl Sadler | CSadler@News-Herald.com | @nhcheryl