As a kid, I enjoyed Mrs. Doubtfire for the Robin Williams comedy. But I hated the ending, because it felt like all the effort of the film was wasted. Robin Williams' character doesn't win his wife back and he has to accept the initial conflict of the story is permanent and unresolvable. It felt like a gut-punch and left me feeling sad and unsatisfied.

As an adult, I understand that this film had a more realistic approach to family and relationship conflict and I appreciate it more... but I still feel uneasy about the ending. I can't get myself to sit down and rewatch it because it just feels so tragic to me. I'd consider this the opposite of a feel-good movie.

It's kind of funny because I really enjoy gritty realism in my films today. But back in the '90s, films were a happy, wholesome escape from reality. Most people didn't watch movies for a reminder of their real lives, they wanted to watch a conflict get resolved and everyone live happily ever after. It made us feel better about our lives, like we could find our happily ever after too. Having a "family comedy" that ends with the family broken up and moving on is so heartbreaking and sad. It's a twist ending that most people never saw coming back then.

[–] Sterling@lemmy.zip 25 points 1 week ago

Fun fact: the original ending to the script was for the parents to get back together. Robin Williams fought to change it so that it didn't send a bad message to kids with divorced parents.