History Film / MrsDoubtfire

* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Or in this case, the PG rating. Supposedly, the scene in Bridges Restaurant where Mrs. Doubtfire says numerous [[DoubleEntendre double entendres]] to Stu was pretty much the main reason the film got a PG-13 rating; otherwise, it might've squeaked by with a PG. The scene where the kids find out Mrs. Doubtfire's identity also calls for a PG-13 rating.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: Refers to the alter ego Daniel takes on to have more time with his kids. How he comes about it is reading a bit in a newspaper saying: "Police doubt fire was accidental", figuratively expressing how he not only intends to insert himself back into his kids' lives full-time (the figurative fire is not accidental there), but how the chaos that comes about is not what he intended (figurative fire there would be accidental). There's also the accidental fire that's set on Daniel when he is trying to cook too.

** There's a rather clever aversion that still gets the point across perfectly; when "Mrs. Doubtfire" is watching the children for the first time, and gives them the task of helping with the housework, the kids rebel, only to have Daniel, in character, give a small grin: "Don't ''fuss'' with me."

* ArtisticLicenseFilmProduction: At the beginning of the film, Daniel is working as a voice actor watching a fully animated clip and trying to lip sync his dialogue to it. Chris Columbus even points out in the commentary that in animation all voice acting is completed before anything is drawn (save for ADR, which usually takes care of things like grunts and groans and such) but that doing it this way made more sense to the plot and figured it could be taken as Daniel dubbing a foreign cartoon. However, this doesn't make sense either as the lip-sync in the cartoon (produced by Creator/ChuckJones) is clearly English. Daniel is more than likely just doing post-production looping, either to just do touch ups on certain lines, or maybe [[TheOtherMarty Daniel replaced another actor,]] and is recording over the previous actor's work. Which makes sense from his conversation with the producer who complains that this session is already costing the studio and they are on a deadline. Also, you don't typically have a censor board overseeing the actual dubbing/recording of a cartoon... that would waste far too much of their time. (Maybe they were just there to hotbox inside the booth?)

** This also applies to his parenting and housekeeping. At first Daniel has to pretend to be the ideal babysitter and housekeeper as Mrs. Doubtfire in order to stay employed by Miranda, by doing things like make the kids do homework and chores before they can goof off (something he would let them do as Daniel), and keep the house clean and make delicious meals to make their mom happy. Eventually these skills become so second-nature that even after the kids learn who he is, he keeps encouraging them to balance fun with responsibilities, and he cooks and keeps house at his own place as well as Miranda's - which ironically is what starts causing problems when Miranda believes that he is responsible enough to see the kids more, but doesn't want to lose Mrs. Doubtfire completely.

* DamnedByFaintPraise: In the ending, the judge says that Daniel's final argument "seemed" convincing, then says that it is simply a good display of acting, showing that he doesn't buy it.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Daniel's plan. He goes ahead with it despite the potential consequences for himself of violating a court order that the judge was going to review after three months anyway. It didn't take Lydia and Chris long to rumble him and it was surely only a matter of time before Miranda did as well. Nor does he consider the possible psychological impact on his children (especially Natalie) of discovering their their beloved elderly nanny is really their father in drag.

** In one of the more serious moments in the movie, Miranda confides in Mrs. Doubtfire that she is happier when she is not around Daniel. Daniel briefly and subtly drops his Doubtfire accent to say, "Well you never..." before catching himself and continuing the conversation in the Doubtfire accent. Luckily for him, Miranda didn't catch on.

* RandomSmokingScene: InUniverse example: The cartoon Daniel is dubbing in the opening scene has the parakeet take a long drag of his OneLastSmoke before he is eaten by the cat, thoroughly enjoying it. Daniel objects and ad-libs dialogue to make it seem as if the bird doesn't like it, which gets him fired.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Daniel gives one to Miranda as to how she just sat by and let the judge think he was crazy when she knew the truth. Miranda calms him down by talking about how she was angry and doesn't want to do it anymore. Then she talks about how everyone was better when Mrs. Doubtfire was in their lives and agrees to change the custody arrangement.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: At the beginning of the film, Daniel quits his voice acting job because he doesn't approve of how it depicts the main character smoking and is also not allowed to improvise.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: After Chris and Lydia find out that Daniel is Mrs. Doubtfire, he is quick to tell them that he didn't have gender reassignment surgery and that he is just wearing a latex suit.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: At the start of the movie, Daniel saying "Sure we do [have something in common], we love each other" during an argument with Miranda causes her to suddenly realize she doesn't love him anymore, and she wants a divorce, kicking off the plot of the film.

** Miranda's boss, who's played by Creator/MartinMull, references a Wellman house. Martin Mull had starred in ''{{Series/Roseanne}}'', where Wellman Plastics was a featured industry.

** At the end of the film, when Daniel comes to take the children for the afternoon, the TV is on and it airs Mrs. Doubtfire's show. In this programme, Mrs. Doubtfire answers a letter from a young girl who's concerned about her parents' recent divorce and the future of their family.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: At the end of the film, Daniel comes to take the children for the afternoon, but regards Miranda somberly, and is too stricken to wait inside the house for the kids. The closing monologue is Mrs. Doubtfire's response to a letter from a young girl who's concerned about her parents' recent divorce and the future of their family. It is heard over scenes of the Daniel and kids leaving Miranda behind and driving into the distance.

* OneLastSmoke: At the beginning of the movie, Daniel is making voices for a cartoon where a cat who's about to eat a bird decides to give his "snack" a cigarette. The bird accepts the offer.

** In-universe and lampshaded. Daniel's accent for Mrs. Doubtfire is a second-hand, sort of bastardized Scottish accent and occasionally slips into others from the region. Stu, who's actually from the UK where accents are a big part of culture, points this out when he first meets "her". Daniel just barely covers by responding that she moved around a lot in her life.

* ArtisticLicense: The portrayal of the Mrs. Doubtfire makeup zig-zags this. It is a realistic take on LatexPerfection done by makeup artist characters, and the broad process we're shown of its creation is legit. However, makeup prosthetics are often in multiple pieces to give the face more mobility, require time to apply and would not go on and off like a Halloween mask in the way the makeup is shown to work in the film, and indeed, the real makeup Robin Williams wore was more complex than the single piece used for the removed prosthetic mask prop in the film. However, the comedic and dramatic tension of the story required Daniel to have a costume that could be quickly put on and removed, so in-story, it is simplified to a rubber mask produced by professional makeup artists.

* NoAntagonist: There are no villains or even characters [[HateSink we're meant to hate]]. Daniel and Miranda are both flawed but sympathetic and her boyfriend Stu, who would normally fit the role of bad guy, is presented as a perfectly nice and caring person. The judge and officers of the court are also presented as being reasonable and well-meaning even when they rule against Daniel.

Daniel Hillard (Williams) is a newly unemployed actor in a rocky marriage. One day, after going behind his wife's back and throwing a wild and expensive birthday party for their son, resulting in their house being trashed, his wife, Miranda (Field), is finally tired of his antics and asks for a divorce. Only allowed to see their three children once a week, Daniel tries to get a new job and shape up his life so that he may receive joint custody. He discovers that Miranda is looking for a nanny to take care of the kids after school. She won't allow him to babysit them, so with the aid of his make-up artist brother, Daniel disguises himself as Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire, an elderly, matronly Scottish woman. He is quickly hired by his ex-wife and uses the opportunity to secretly spend time with his children. Things get more complicated, though, as Miranda starts dating an old friend, Stu (Brosnan), and Daniel finds that his family can't bear to part with Mrs. Doubtfire.

** Mrs Doubtfire uses a play on the phrase "carpe diem". That was the CatchPhrase of Creator/RobinWilliams' character in ''Film/DeadPoetsSociety''.

* AmicableExes: The film is in a sense all about how Daniel and Miranda learn to be this and by the end, it's made pretty clear that in spite of everything, they still care very much for each other.
* ArtisticLicense: The portrayal of the Mrs. Doubtfire makeup zig-zags this. It's a realistic take on LatexPerfection done by makeup artist characters, and the broad process we're shown of its creation is legit. However, makeup prosthetics are often in multiple pieces to give the face more mobility, require time to apply and wouldn't go on and off like a Halloween mask in the way the makeup is shown to work in the film, and indeed, the real makeup Robin Williams wore was more complex than the single piece used for the removed prosthetic mask prop in the film. However, the comedic and dramatic tension of the story required Daniel to have a costume that could be quickly put on and removed, so in-story, it's simplified to a rubber mask produced by professional makeup artists.
* ArtisticLicenseFilmProduction: At the beginning of the film, Daniel is working as a voice actor watching a fully animated clip and trying to lip sync his dialogue to it. Chris Columbus even points out in the commentary that in animation all voice acting is completed before anything is drawn (save for ADR, which usually takes care of things like grunts and groans and such) but that doing it this way made more sense to the plot and figured it could be taken as Daniel dubbing a foreign cartoon. However, this doesn't make sense either as the lip-sync in the cartoon (produced by Creator/ChuckJones) is clearly English. Daniel is more than likely just doing post-production looping, either to just do touch ups on certain lines, or maybe [[TheOtherMarty Daniel replaced another actor,]] and is recording over the previous actor's work. Which makes sense from his conversation with the producer who complains that this session is already costing the studio and they're on a deadline. Also, you don't typically have a censor board overseeing the actual dubbing/recording of a cartoon... that would waste far too much of their time. (Maybe they were just there to hotbox inside the booth?)

** This also applies to his parenting and housekeeping. At first Daniel has to pretend to be the ideal babysitter and housekeeper as Mrs. Doubtfire in order to stay employed by Miranda, by doing things like make the kids do homework and chores before they can goof off (something he would let them do as Daniel), and keep the house clean and make delicious meals to make their mom happy. Eventually these skills become so second-nature that even after the kids learn who he is, he keeps encouraging them to balance fun with responsibilities, and he cooks and keeps house at his own place as well as Miranda's - which ironically is what starts causing problems when Miranda believes that he is responsible enough to see the kids more, but doesn't want to lose Mrs Doubtfire completely.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: [[Creator/DiscoveryFamily The Hub's]] showing of the film takes scissors to everything from snippets of dialog to entire scenes. Dubbing over Frank saying "Bitch"? Perfectly understandable. Cutting the scene when Mrs. Doubtfire asserts her authority and makes the kids do chores because they won't do their homework? Hurts the film and makes the kids feel like props rather than characters. Oh, and Miranda can't say "Hell" but "Lotsa luck, Smart Ass" was fine.

* ChekhovsSkill: At "her" interview, Mrs. Doubtfire's resume states that she knows first aid, including the Heimlich Maneuver. This apparently isn't a lie (like the rest of the qualifications clearly are), as Daniel ends up needing to administer the Maneuver to Stuart later on. [[spoiler: This is also how Daniel gets caught by Miranda, because the latex mask peels away as he's doing the Heimlich Maneuver]].

* ContrivedCoincidence: It's very convenient for Daniel that his brother happens to be a makeup artist.

* DamnedByFaintPraise: In the ending, the judge says that Daniel's final argument "seemed" convincing, then says that it's simply a good display of acting, showing that he doesn't buy it.
* DeadpanSnarker: Daniel, even when he's Mrs. Doubtfire.

** In-universe example. Early in the movie, Mr. Sprinkles is the painfully boring star of a failing children's show. At the end of the movie, he's replaced by Mrs. Doubtfire and is demoted to her mailman.

* DeusExMachina: It's a good thing Daniel had an entire vanilla cake in his fridge so he could plant his face on it and pass it off as facial cream! If not, the movie would've been over in half an hour.

* DoubleMeaningTitle: Refers to the alter ego Daniel takes on to have more time with his kids. How he comes about it is reading a bit in a newspaper saying: "Police doubt fire was accidental", figuratively expressing how he not only intends to insert himself back into his kids' lives full-time (the figurative fire is not accidental there), but how the chaos that comes about is not what he intended (figurative fire there would be accidental). There's also the accidental fire that's set on Daniel when he's trying to cook too.
* DudeNotFunny: Invoked in the scene when Mrs. Doubtfire first meets Miranda and the kids. Miranda begins to diss Daniel, and Mrs. Doubtfire tells Miranda that it's appropriate to send the kids out of the room before verbally bashing their father. Miranda tries to make a joke: "If I did that, I might never see them again." She immediately apologizes after Mrs. Doubtfire's stern look and lack of laughter from the kids.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Daniel quitting a paid voice-over gig over its depiction of smoking tells us everything we need to know about him going forward: he's great at character acting, he does what he feels is the right thing no matter what, and he goes ahead with it even if it's not the wisest choice for him to make.

* FatSuit: Really, the only way Daniel (Robin Williams) could appear as "Mrs Doubtfire" around his kids was to utilize this with sort of (heavy) makeup. Given that, ''anything'' that changed his appearance on a large enough scale would have worked; the fact that "Mrs Doubtfire" appeared to be an elderly, overweight, nanny was rather incidental to the behavior....

* GamesOfTheElderly: Daniel, dressed as the titular character, learns his family and a friend will be going to the same restaurant on the same date he is due to have a meeting with an executive at the studio he works. He attempts to get out of it saying "she" (Mrs Doubtfire) has bingo on that night and it is her turn to pull the balls.

* GilliganCut: Early in the film, Daniel's brother is trying to console him about his impending divorce, but Daniel assures him that it's just a temporary thing and will soon blow over. Cut to Daniel and his wife standing in court listening to a judge discuss custody arrangements.

** Daniel does such a good job as Mrs. Doubtfire, that when he himself has shown to be a competent parent (thanks to the skills he's learned as Doubtfire), Miranda won't consider letting him watch the kids outside his visitation rights because she and the kids can't bear to let go of Mrs. Doubtfire.

* HardTruthAesop: Sorry kids, but sometimes it really ''is'' best for everybody involved that your parents get (and remain) divorced. People who are too different from one another simply can't function together, and need to be apart in order to be the parents that you need in your life. The original script actually did end with Daniel and Miranda getting back together, but Chris Columbus and Robin Williams, who’d both been divorced, worried it would give children of divorced parents unreasonable hope and successfully got it changed.
* HighHeelHurt: Daniel complains about the high heels he's wearing while walking home from his first day as Mrs Doubtfire.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: If Daniel hadn't decided to spike Stu's dinner, he wouldn't have had to stop him from choking thus most likely keeping his identity as Mrs. Doubtfire safe.... at least for the time being.
* HoldingBothSidesOfTheConversation: The caseworker for the divorce makes a surprise visit to Daniel's apartment to check up on him, but comes while he's still in disguise. Daniel!Doubtfire covers for it by claiming that she's his sister. The caseworker calls his bluff, but Daniel gets around this by going into a room to "get" him; while in the room, where the caseworker can't see him, he loudly holds both sides of the conversation as himself and Mrs. Doubtfire, all while changing out of disguise.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: At the end of the film, Daniel comes to take the children for the afternoon, but regards Miranda somberly, and is too stricken to wait inside the house for the kids. The closing monologue is Mrs. Doubtfire's response to a letter from a young girl who's concerned about her parents' recent divorce and the future of their family. It's heard over scenes of the Daniel and kids leaving Miranda behind and driving into the distance.
* LethalChef: Daniel starts out as one, even ''setting himself on fire'' trying to salvage a dinner he's already cooked beyond saving. Naturally though with a few self-help courses and a lot of determination, he gets a lot better at it.

* {{Manchild}}: Daniel is definitely this, if the out-of-control birthday party is any evidence to go by. Unfortunately for him, it's this immaturity and lack of responsibility that costs him his marriage, and in Miranda's own words he "never took anything seriously". It's only after he becomes Mrs. Doubtfire that he begins to dial back these tendencies, but he is still very much a happy-go-lucky and funloving guy when he needs to be.
* MaybeEverAfter: Daniel and Miranda don't get back together in the end of the movie, but Daniel's time as Mrs. Doubtfire serves to ground him, reining in some of the excessive tendencies that drove them apart in the first place. Indeed, Mrs. Doubtfire's closing monologue (which Miranda watches) states that sometimes divorced parents do get back together...and sometimes they don't. The question of whether their marriage is salvageable is left ambiguous, and far less important than the fact that they've reached a happy medium with their children.

* MuggingTheMonster: A would-be mugger tries to steal Mrs Doubtfire's purse. Mrs Doubtfire [[NeverMessWithGranny fights him off]], yelling at the man in Daniel's normal voice (which scares the crap out of the snatcher and some bystanders), then goes over to Mrs. Doubtfire's voice. "Broke my bag, the bastard!"

** Miranda basically has one at the court case when Daniel is sentenced to psychiatric evaluation and increasingly restricted contact with the children despite his heartfelt speech, as she recognises that he isn't dangerous to the children even if she's unhappy with his deception.

** Daniel screams in horror when his realizes that his fake breasts are on fire while he's cooking.

** In one of the more serious moments in the movie, Miranda confides in Mrs. Doubtfire that she's happier when she's not around Daniel. Daniel briefly and subtly drops his Doubtfire accent to say, "Well you never..." before catching himself and continuing the conversation in the Doubtfire accent. Luckily for him, Miranda didn't catch on.

** The judge is sympathetic to Daniel during the initial proceedings, saying that he's an obviously loving father and it would be unfair to grant Miranda sole custody simply because she's the mother. He gives him 90 days to find a stable job and create a suitable living space, after which he offers to consider joint custody. Once Daniel is exposed, he does still seem to be sympathetic, but notes that while he's technically completed these tasks, his behaviour isn't exactly a sign of a stable, honest father-figure and refuses to expand visitation rights.

** Luckily for Daniel, Lundy agrees that the show is awful and he's there to announce that he's taking it off the air.

** The show at the very beginning doubles as GeniusBonus: Daniel's introduced singing Figaro's Aria from Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville - the animation style is a reference to Woody Woodpecker's WesternAnimation/TheBarberOfSeville - but just like the actual Figaro from the opera, Daniel's a talented and dramatic liar/actor, who is as good-humoured as he is snarky. [[WholePlotReference Both the opera and Mrs Doubtfire are about men disguising themselves to be with their loved ones]].

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: After Chris and Lydia find out that Daniel is Mrs. Doubtfire, he's quick to tell them that he didn't have gender reassignment surgery and that he is just wearing a latex suit.
* StalkingIsLove: Unusually, it's a man stalking his whole family rather than just his ex-wife.

* TakeThisJobAndShoveIt: When Daniel is not allowed to deviate from the script that calls for him to promote smoking in a cartoon since the animation was completed, Lou reminds him that if he leaves the session, he can't go back in. Daniel responds with "Piss off, Lou" in a WesternAnimation/PorkyPig impersonation, complete with [[PorkyPigPronunciation stutter]].

* TerribleIntervieweesMontage: An {{invoked|Trope}} example. In order for him to get Miranda's housekeeping job, Daniel changes the telephone number on the classified ad before it's sent to the newspaper, then calls Miranda's number as terrible interviewees before breaking out what would become Mrs. Doubtfire.

** Earlier in the film, Lydia told Mrs. Doubtfire that she made her mom so happy than she's ever seen before. In fact, Lydia states that she can't even remember the last time her mom was ''ever'' happy.

* WildTeenParty: Subverted. It's the dad who throws the wild party for his 12-year-old son. It's entirely age-appropriate but wildly excessive (involving an actual petting zoo) and against their mother's wishes. Not only does it cause trouble, but it turns out to be the last straw leading to their divorce.

* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: Used by Daniel to GetCrapPastTheRadar. While modeling one of the disguises he tries out (a stereotypical ''baba''), he says "I should never buy ''gribenes'' [[labelnote: trans.]] pieces of crispy-fried poultry skin, the Jewish answer to pork rinds[[/labelnote]] from a ''mohel'' [[labelnote:trans.]] the rabbi who performs a bris on baby boys[[/labelnote]]. They're so chewy!"

* LittleBlackDress

** Daniel himself imposes this on himself, quitting as a voice actor only to come back as a gofer at the studio.

** Daniel himself goes from being a voice actor to a gofer at the studio.

A 1993 comedy directed by Creator/ChrisColumbus and starring Creator/RobinWilliams, about a man who [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdresses]] as an elderly British woman in order to see his kids again. It co-stars Creator/SallyField, Creator/PierceBrosnan, Matthew Lawrence, and Creator/MaraWilson.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: It stars Creator/RobinWilliams, what did you expect?
-->'''Mrs. Doubtfire:''' Don't ''fuss'' with me.
-->'''Mrs. Doubtfire:''' Ok, whatever you think, dear, I'll get the ''frock'' out of here!
** A lot of snarky lines cross into this as well.
** How the kids found out that Mrs. Doubtfire is Daniel.
** Lastly, something which likely went over the head over most of the children at the final trial scene is that the judge is implying that Daniel is a DepravedHomosexual, unable to be trusted with his kids.
** Not to mention the BilingualBonus you get when you know what he says in Yiddish while disguised as an old woman...
-->'''Old Woman''': I should never buy gribenes[[note]]fried "chicken"(?) skins[[/note]] from a Mohel[[note]]circumciser. A shande indeed... [[/note]] . It's so chewy!
** Daniel getting drunk and starts hitting on a young woman, while in his Mrs. Doubtfire disguise during the pool scene.

A rare TwelfthNightAdventure in western media. Based on the book ''Madame Doubtfire''[[note]]called ''Alias Madame Doubtfire'' in the USA[[/note]] by Anne Fine, this was one of Robin Williams' biggest hits and finished its theatrical run 2nd behind ''Film/HomeAlone'' (another Chris Columbus film) as the highest-grossing live-action comedy of all time. The film won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and the Golden Globe for Best Comedy; The latter being the last ''pure comedy'' (as in not a dramedy) to win until 2009's Film/TheHangover.

** Daniel getting drunk and starts hitting on a young woman, while in his Mrs. Doubtfire diguise during the pool scene.

* RightInFrontOfMe: Daniel complains at work about an extremely boring children's program that's shooting... to the executive who allowed the program to air. When he finds out exactly who he's talking to, Daniel introduces himself as a "former employee." Luckily for him, Lundy agrees with the criticism.

'''Natalie''': *To Daniel* Why would you want mommy to die?

* LineOfSightName: The name Doubtfire came from a newspaper headline ("Police Doubt Fire Was Accidental").

--> '''Mrs. Doubtfire''': "If I find the misogynistic bastard that invented heels, I'll kill him."

-->'''Daniel''': "Oh yeah, it's something I can really sink my teeth into!" *removes false teeth*
-->"It's like I don't have the same face anymore!" *removes mask*

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Divorce happens, and children need to understand that when it does, it does '''''not''''' mean that their parents have stopped loving them. The divorce is not the kids fault, either. Both Creator/RobinWilliams and Creator/SallyField thought this message was so important that they demanded that the original ending -- in which Dabiel and Miranda get back together -- be changed so that the parents remained divorced.

* JerkassRealization: [[spoiler:Miranda has one after acknowledging how much Daniel cared and loved their kids, how she actually deep down still loved Daniel and never hated him and how she and them misses him and his Mrs. Doubtfire personality.]]

* DadsCantCook: Initially played straight with Daniel. He has to order cheap Chinese food for his kids first Saturday visit with him, and with his attempt to cook dinner on his first day as Mrs. Doubtfire going so hysterically wrong that he has to order takeout food from an expensive restaraunt. But finally {{Subverted|Trope}}, because he manages to teach himself proper cooking through televisions and books, becoming better as he goes on and is able to incorporate this skill into his role as a father.

* FellAsleepCrying: The ex-wife says that when she was married, she was so unhappy with her married life that she would cry herself to sleep.