MovieChat Forums > Hello, My Name Is Doris (2016) Discussion > Was The Ending A Cop-out? (SPOILERS SPO...

Was The Ending A Cop-out? (SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS)

posted 9 years ago by feminist-12508
18 replies | jump to latest

Normally I'm fine with happy endings and I like the occasional ambiguous ending, but I wondered if anyone else found the ending a little unrealistic. I mean, the most realistic ending would have been for the elevator door to close. The End. To have him run after her is hopeful, sweet, but wildly unrealistic. Of course, just because he runs after her doesn't mean they're going to live happily ever after or even have a physical or romantic relationship. Maybe he'll say "It can't end this way" and they'll be "just friends." Ewwww. Maybe they'll have sex but realize the age difference is too great a barrier.

I liked Doris, the character, I liked the whole movie. And I was surprised to find myself rooting, as that elevator door closed, for him to *not* run after her. I wanted her to have realized her life was in a rut, make changes, throw the chair/ball at the mean boss, apologize sincerely to John for damaging his relationship, then move on. Without John. I'm not saying she has to take up with a 70-year-old, but - if she's with anyone at all - maybe it could be a guy closer to her own age.

Full disclosure, I'm in my 50s and work in a fairly large place. The friendliest, cutest, most engaging guy here and one of the people who is nicest to me is twenty. Seriously, twenty. It's heart-breaking. 😢

[–] rugolin 9 years ago

The movie kind of works where the relationship was a fantasy in the main character's mind which makes it a little funny and a little sad as who hasn't loved someone out of reach and acted like a fool for love. The arc of the movie was Doris moving on with her life and stopping limiting behavior but the last scene totally betrays that notion by her going back to her unrealistic fantasies and then the director apparently fulfilling them in a ludicrously unrealistic fashion. If you were the young guy you would have to have complete amnesia to chase after someone who is a)40 years older than you who has nothing in common with you,b)proven to be a persistent stalker who follows you and your girlfriend and c)totally betrayed your friendship and your girlfriend's friendship by destroying the relationship with someone you were really in love with.

I kind of wish where Doris would have gone to Brooklyn and make amends for her horrible behavior and put thing right between them again. Instead the movie gives her a pass and the potential of success which she doesn't deserve or earn.

[–] ethanhunk3000 9 years ago

My interpretation of the ending was that it no longer mattered to Doris whether he ran after her or not, and she quite possibly wasn't even aware that he did because the elevator door closed. I took it as a sign of her finally ready to move on, and hence a perfect ending to a near-perfect movie.

[–] zooymtoo 9 years ago

My interpretation of the ending was that it no longer mattered to Doris whether he ran after her or not, and she quite possibly wasn't even aware that he did because the elevator door closed. I took it as a sign of her finally ready to move on, and hence a perfect ending to a near-perfect movie.

This is how I interpreted it as well.
Obviously nothing is spoiled if it's open to different perspectives.

[–] phil97012 9 years ago

I think the ending is supposed to be vague. We don't really know whether the man really after her to say that he wants her or just to apologize.
So, I think it was supposed to be "Take it as you will".
Like that scene "half empty or half full". It depends on your perspective.

[–] SeemsSensible 9 years ago

I didn't much care for that either, him running after her. The only thing that would make it OK for me is if he were running after her to ask her to talk to Brooklyn and tell her what she had done. (But that's probably pretty far-fetched, as a) He would have already told Brooklyn or b) Doris should have done that on her own.

Man, can you imagine what it was like in the office between Thanksgiving and Christmas?

I basically like the movie. Very good cast, esp. Tyne Daly.

[–] kingkass 9 years ago

I liked the ending. It shows her fantasy and at the end she moves on herself. She doesn't wait for him to come for her, she goes into the elevator and even if he comes after her she is done with it. But it's also a hopeful ending.

[–] AWaite4 9 years ago

Moves on to where, exactly? Her nebbish brother and shrew SIL have just convinced her to dump everything out of her house, (sorry about the spoilers), and what? move in with them? go to a seniors' ghetto? live in an empty house?
One more scene wouldn't have hurt, showing her living happily somewhere.
I waited all the way through the credits to see if there was one more scene, but....no.

.
.
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tension, apprehension, and dissension have begun.

[–] leader (1996) 6 years ago

She got half of the money from selling her mother's house and used it to buy a place closer to her workplace so she didn't have to take the ferry anymore. Of course, she didn't work there anymore.

[–] kiya12309 9 years ago

If the ending is actually real and he is actually running after her, then yes, I'm disappointed. However, in my mind, even him running after at the last moment is a fantasy in her mind that never actually happened. If she doesn't close the elevator and keep going and move on with her life she is going to keep having this fantasy over and over and over. In my mind, and in reality, he is still standing at his desk, never running after her. It is only in her mind, a fantasy, that he runs after her (even the second time). This doesn't seem too far-fetched to me, as she's been having these fantasies over and over throughout the whole movie. Now at the end she is closing the elevator door on her fantasy and deciding to live in reality.

[–] smoke0 9 years ago

I agree with this, I chose to believe she was entertaining one last fantasy while at the same time moving on with her life.

Revenge is a dish that best goes stale.

[–] fadyakraa 9 years ago

I don't think it was unrealistic. The guy - I don't remember his name, although I just watched the movie - had some sort of a little something for her even if it was for her weirdness that made him interested.

[–] harveythepooka 8 years ago

I liked the ending. The chances of them ever getting together is basically zero and everyone knew it but Doris and her underaged friend. He probably just felt some how responsible for her leaving a job she'd been at so much longer than him, being he's a nice guy and he probably just didn't want their relationship to end badly, or maybe he wanted her to contact his ex and tell her the truth. Whatever he wanted to do, he didn't want to have a relationship with her.

IMO the ending was a bit rushed, I would have liked to know what happened to Doris, was she leaving town? She did totally empty her house. Did she get a new job and if so where? Did she retire? I liked she was still fantasizing and she hadn't given up on her "dreams" but I think she basically finally grew up when she reached her 60s and that was both happy and sad at the same time.