By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB

“Hello, My Name is Doris” is the first film in many years to star Sally Field in a leading role.

Her talent, flexibility and grace are the things that make this movie work. Doris Miller may not, however, be a character you can completely get behind. Sure she’s a shy, mousy, invisible accounting clerk, but she is also socially inept.

The movie opens with Doris’ mother’s funeral. Her brother Todd (Stephen Root) and sister-in-law Cynthia emerge at the wake to suggest to Doris that she get some help. It seems mother was a bit of a hoarder and Doris needs to clean out the house so they can sell it. Days later, on her way to work, Doris finds a perfectly useable table lamp on the curb and takes it.

Movie poster. Courtesy/Reel Deal Theater

John Fremont (Max Greenfield) is a really nice man, so he actually does give Doris the time of day. But Doris connives her way into finding common interests with him. A self-help seminar makes her think romance with John is not impossible. Her best friend Roz (played by the excellent Tyne Daly) tries to talk her down, but Roz’s 13-year-old granddaughter cheers Doris on and teaches her a few tricks. So many of Doris’ efforts are sad and discomfiting, and some are actual breaches of ethics.

Sadly, when I finally did laugh out loud I realized that most of the “funny” scenes were truly awkward rather than hilarious. On the other hand, there are some wonderful scenes where she is trying something totally out of character. I wanted to cheer for Doris, but instead I found myself appalled and just wanted her to “get a life”. Perhaps her age made it hard for me to see her as “just a late-bloomer”.

To Doris’ credit, she had sacrificed everything to care for her mother. Perhaps you have known a woman who cared for a parent and put her own life on hold to do it? Sometimes life has passed them by. This movie wants us to think that at 60-something, Doris may have missed the boat, even as she symbolically rides the ferry to and from Staten Island each day. Her naiveté is matched only by her spunk.

In Doris’ journey of self-discovery, her unrequited love interest in John leads her to try new activities in unusual social settings, which she might never have dared to do for herself, otherwise. Admittedly, some of these attempts are really entertaining.

See this movie to enjoy Sally Fields acting. Those of us who have ever felt socially awkward might relate to her character. The film is rated R for language.