Apparently, so many resources went into creating Sally Field’s late-period showcase role that there wasn’t much left over for the plot, or the other characters. And it is a showcase: Doris is a woman for whom life begins again just as she reaches retirement age. Mom’s death releases her from the role of dutiful caretaker, but the years of self-abnegation have taken their toll. Socially awkward, prone to hoarding, and deeply lonely, she wars over her childhood (and current) home with her bullish brother and his bitchy wife, and also begins fantasizing about a young fellow at work. The romantic angle might have worked as a subplot — comic relief from the sorrow of finding yourself alone and without purpose after a lifetime of service, clutching the past and defending yourself from those who should be most grateful to you. Instead, l’amour fou serves as the film’s engine, even if all manner of nonsense is required to keep it running. (Mind you, it’s not the May-December romance that’s absurd; it’s the behavior and thinking of the parties involved.) Even so, Field does a good job of making Doris feel like a person, and manages to finish with grace even as all around her crumbles and stumbles. Directed by Michael Showalter. (2016) — Matthew Lickona
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