History Film / MrsDoubtfire

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* SecretKeeper: [[spoiler: Lydia and Chris become this to their father after Chris [[UnsettlingGenderReveal accidentally walks in on Mrs. Doubtfire in the bathroom. They also agree not to let Natalie in on Daniel's ruse because she CannotKeepASecret.]]

* {{Secret Keeper}}s: [[spoiler: Lydia and Chris become this to their father after Chris [[UnsettlingGenderReveal accidentally walks in on Mrs. Doubtfire in the bathroom. They also agree not to let Natalie in on Daniel's ruse because she CannotKeepASecret.]]

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** When Daniel's true identity is finally exposed, the local court judge tells him that if you want to prove yourself a competent, capable parent figure, dressing up like an elderly Scottish nanny and posing as a housekeeper to defy court orders isn't going to help. Daniel ''did'' meet the judge's demands, ahead of schedule as he points out, but his behavior as Mrs. Doubtfire did far more damage to his case than any of the good he did for it, which justifies his loss of visitation rights but gives Daniel the message that he'd be better off a divorced father than a nanny.
** The same applies to Miranda and Daniel's marriage. Initially the two fell in love because OppositesAttract, but the film shows in the long run their polar opposite work ethics, values, and life goals brought out the worst in each other and caused the two to fight non-stop until they finally split up.
** [[spoiler: The original plan was to have Daniel and Miranda remarry at the end of the movie, but Williams, Field, and Columbus (all divorcees themselves) changed it to having them remain divorced, because they felt it offered false hope. As sad as it is, some marriages really ''don't'' work out and most people who divorce don't get back together]].
** Daniel decides to spike Stu's meal with pepper after finding out he's allergic. Instead of being PlayedForLaughs Stu's throat contracts causing him to choke and nearly die and Daniel is horrified at what he'd done.

* AdaptationalLocationChange / AdaptationalNationality: The book was set in England while the movie relocates the action to San Francisco. Most of the characters are Americanized as a result, but coincidentally, Mrs. Doubtfire herself is British (though she comes from Scotland) and so is Stu (He is played by Pearce Brosnan).

* GenderConcealingVoice: Daniel Hillard softens his voice and uses a British accent to disguise himself as elderly Mrs. Doubtfire. Justified since Daniel is a professional voice actor and elderly women tend to have lower registers in general.

* {{Secret Keeper}}s: [[spoiler: Lydia and Chris become this to their father after Chris [[UnsettlingGenderReveal accidentally walks in on Mrs. Doubtfire in the bathroom]].]]
** CannotKeepASecret: [[spoiler:They also agree not to let Natalie in on Daniel's ruse because of this.]]

* TakeFive: At Bridges Restaurant. With Miranda having gone to escort Nattie to the bathroom, Mrs. Doubtfire directs Chris and Lydia to leave the table and preview the dessert trays so she can be alone with Stu and take the piss out of him.

* {{Tuckerization}}: The character Aunt Jack was named after Robin Williams's favourite characters in ''The Aunty Jack Show'' (an Australian TV series).

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Daniel.

!!''Mrs. Doubtfire'' provides examples of:

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Daniel and Miranda remain divorced, [[AmicableExes but the two of them are on much better terms with each other]], and Daniel becomes the babysitter for their kids and is allowed to see them anytime he wants. This was substituted for the original ending where they do get back together, which was opposed by Chris Columbus, Robin Williams, and Sally Field (all divorcees) who thought it would give false hope to children of divorced couples.]]

* IdiotBall: Miranda divorced Daniel, whom she supposedly was well aware of his skill with voices and fast talking. Yet all these strange, surreal nannies responding to her ads never sets off an internal flag that her ex-husband could be behind them.

* AnAesop: The moral is that sometimes divorce happens and it isn't the end of the family. Daniel and Miranda are presented as having valid reasons to divorce because they've grown into different people than they were before and Miranda doesn't love Daniel as much as she once did. Both still clearly love their kids. The ending focuses on Mrs. Doubtfire addressing a child that wrote to her about their parents getting divorced, and she explains that sometimes these things just happen with married couples, and it may be for the best for them so they can grow to be better people apart, and they may or may not get back together eventually.

* DivorceIsTemporary: Defied (see below).

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.

* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: Used by Daniel. 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!"

* {{Corpsing}}: Pierce Brosnan is clearly trying not to lose it at one point during the dinner scene. Quite glaring considering his character is supposed to be annoyed.

* HonkingArrivingCar: Following the divorce, when Daniel has his kids over for a Chinese food dinner at his apartment, Miranda's car pulls up outside an hour early, and she honks the horn. All the kids immediately know it's their mother and are about to get up to leave, but Daniel insist they sit and stay, forcing Miranda to come up to the apartment.

--> '''Lundy''': Hey, does your girlfriend have a girlfriend?\\
'''Daniel''': Hey, it's the '90s.\\
'''Lundy''': No, I mean, does she have a lady friend for ''me''?

-->'''Mrs. Doubtfire''': Oh, sir! I saw it! Some angry member of the kitchen staff! Did you not tip them? Oh, the terrorists! They ran that way! It was a run-by fruiting! I'll get them, sir! Don't worry!

--> '''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]''

--> '''Natalie''': What's Amoebic Dysentery? \\
'''Chris''': It's some kind of infection in your tummy where you get diarrhea forever - \\
'''Natalie''': Diarrhea forever? \\
'''Chris''': - and your body dries up, and you die. \\
'''Natalie''': You ''die''? \\
'''Daniel''': [[LampshadeHanging You don't have to be]] [[WhatTheHellHero so graphic with her]]! \\
'''Chris''': It's true! I read about it in a science book! \\
'''Natalie''': ''[To Daniel]'' Why would you want Mommy to die?

* LiteralMetaphor
--> '''Miranda:''' How did your husband die?
--> '''Mrs. Doubtfire:''' He was quite fond of the drink. It was the drink that killed him.
--> '''Miranda:''' How awful, he was an alcoholic?
--> '''Mrs. Doubtfire:''' No, he was hit by a Guinness truck, so it was quite literally the drink that killed him.

* NiceGuy: Miranda's new boyfriend Stu is shown to be polite and good-natured person who adores her kids.

--> '''Lundy''': ...Daniel??\\
'''Daniel''': Yeah?\\
'''Lundy''': Why in ''God's name'' are you dressed like a woman?!\\
'''Daniel''': ''(quietly)'' ...Oh, damn.

--> '''Natalie:''' We're his goddamn kids, too! \\
'''Miranda:''' [[WhatTheHellHero Any other choice phrases you'd like to teach our five-year-old, Daniel]]?

-->'''Daniel''': What kind of idiot kept this guy on the air for twenty-five years?
-->'''Lundy''': Me. ''[offering his hand]'' Jonathan Lundy.
-->'''Daniel''': Jonathan Lundy, General Manager, owner? ''[Lundy nods]'' I'm Daniel Hillard, former employee.
-->'''Lundy''': Maybe...

''Mrs. Doubtfire'' is a 1993 Comedy-Drams 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, Creator/MatthewLawrence, and Creator/MaraWilson.

''Mrs. Doubtfire'' is 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, Creator/MatthewLawrence, and Creator/MaraWilson.

* 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.

* {{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.

* 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.

'''Daniel''': [[LesYay Hey, it's the '90s.]]\\

* 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?)

* ArtisticLicenseHistory[[ArtisticLicenseMusic /Music]]: Miranda, an interior decorator, recommends a "17th century grand piano" for Stuart's bed and breakfast. Aside from the fact that the first piano wasn't made until 1720 whereas the term "17th century" refers to the 1600s, the grand piano as we know it today wasn't invented until the later years of the 19th century. However there did exist a more primitive similar instrument known as the harpsichord in the 1600s, though the strings in those were still plucked which makes it a string instrument (hence the name ''harp''sichord) as opposed to a piano's string-striking hammers making it a percussion instrument.

* MeanBoss: Daniel's boss Tony in the shipping department.

->'''Lydia Hillard:''' Why can't you and Mom just pretend to be happy?\\
'''Daniel Hillard:''' We probably could.\\
'''Lydia Hillard:''' And we'd still be a family.\\
'''Daniel Hillard:''' Yeah, we would be, but we'd be a pretend family, you know? It wouldn't be real.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory[[ArtisticLicenseMusic /Music]]: Miranda, an interior decorator, recommends a "17th century grand piano" for Stuart's bed and breakfast. Aside from the fact the that the first piano wasn't made until 1720 whereas the term "17th century" refers to the 1600s, the grand piano as we know it today wasn't invented until the later years of the 19th century. There did exist a more primitive similar instrument known as the harpsichord in the 1600s, though the strings in those were still plucked which makes it a string instrument (hence the name ''harp''sichord) as opposed to a piano's string-striking hammers making it a percussion instrument.

* 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]].
** Daniel's ability to "do voices" and impressions help him fool Miranda and pull off Mrs. Doubtfire.

A sequel was announced, but in the wake of Robin Williams' death in August 2014, [[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/mrs-doubtfire-2-likely-cancelled-following-robin-williams-tragic-death-9663371.html this now seems unlikely.]] In 2021, a [[ScreenToStageAdaptation stage musical]] based on the film with music by [[Theatre/SomethingRotten Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick]]. It opened on Broadway on December 5, 2021.