Nearing 70, Sally Field plays a woman still coming of age

Hollywood doesn't exactly churn out good parts for middle-aged or older actresses, even for beloved two-time Oscar winners.

There are things that come to me, maybe the script is good but you don't really need me in this movie to stand at the door and say, 'Drive carefully.'

In the film, directed and co-written by Michael Showalter, Field stars as a spinsterish, daydreaming New York accountant who, after her mother dies, cautiously begins seeking out new experiences and pursuing — comically, awkwardly, sweetly — a much younger man: an art director at her Manhattan office played by Max Greenfield.

The film, which opens Friday, is a blend of tones — broadly funny, dramatically tender — and populated by veteran performers like Tyne Daly, Stephen Root and Peter Gallagher.

Holding it all together is the ever-plucky Field, outfitted with two pairs of eyeglasses around her neck and a nest of hair, Field's intentionally messy version of a Brigitte Bardot doo.

Field has followed the rising outrage over gender equality in the movie industry with a mix of optimism and wariness.

Showalter, an alum of the sketch comedy troupe "The State," considered Field the "pie-in-the-sky" casting option, and was flabbergasted when she agreed.

Though there are numerous exceptions, Field's career has been largely populated by "regular" people: underdogs and strivers like her union-forming Norma Rae, her split-identity Sybil, her Texas widow of "Places in the Heart."