Hello, My Name Is Doris

*** out of ****

Hello, My Name Is Doris stars Sally Field as the title character: An aging lonely hoarder who develops a crush on a young man (Max Greenfield) at her office job. In a desperate attempt to develop commonalities with him, she not only succeeds in winning his friendship, but also wins popularity with his hipster peers who embrace her weirdness as a quirky addition to their scene. As much as it excites Doris to be accepted by vibrant young people, she still longs to be closer with the young man.

The movie, based on a short film by Laura Terruso and directed by Michael Showalter, is quite funny for the way it tackles an awkward character and manages to humanize her. It’s likely that we’ve all dealt with an odd person who we managed to like on a superficial level, but failed to see as a person with needs. It’s also possible that we’ve been that odd person whose needs went unrecognized.

Hello, My Name Is Doris only falls short in its conventional structure and predictability, but it thrives on an unusual subject with a great comic performance to give it a sense of truth in the center of all the absurdity.