Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

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Paramount Pictures presents Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael. Written by Karen Leigh Hopkins. 96 minutes. Rated PG-13 for Sexuality and language. Originally Released in 1990

Directed By:

Jim Abrahams

Cast:

Winona Ryder….Dinky Bossetti
Jeff Daniels….Denton Webb

The Film:

Roxy Carmichael seems stuck in a time warp, somewhere between the late 80’s and early 90’s. One sees much influence of John Hughes here and also much of what made up many a quirky comedy of the 90’s. And while the film hasn’t aged all that well, it seems perfectly content to represent a certain place and time and many will appreciate that.

A young Winona Ryder plays the oddly named Dinky Bossetti who is the poster girl for young, odd and out-of-place teenage angst. She hates everyone at her school and in turn everyone hates her. She even hates her adopted parents. She only wears black – this includes dying a yellow sweater her mom bought her; she paints her room black as well. The only person she seems not to hate is local celebrity Roxy Carmichael who has not been back to the small town of Clyde, Ohio, in fifteen years. Dinky is 15 years old and after learning from Roxy’s ex-boyfriend, Denton (Jeff Daniels), that Roxy left town after having their kid, Dinky becomes convinced that she is Roxy’s long lost child.

All this comedic drama is centered around Roxy’s big homecoming. The whole town is in an excited frenzy, as stories and rumors of Roxy’s past circulate the big question to Dinky and the audience is “What makes Roxy Carmichael so famous anyway?” I could answer that question here but it’s just too funny to ruin for anyone who hasn’t seen the film. As the buzz of Roxy’s return builds Dinky and Denton begin to think that their only salvation lies in her return but they both have a lot to learn and boy will they.

This is a pleasant little comedy filled with plenty of quirky humor to make anyone who grew up in the early 90’s think fondly on their younger years. Jeff Daniels gives a great performance with a few strong dramatic moments that makes it easy to see why he was cast in The Squid and The Whale. Falling smack dab between Heathers and Edwards Scissorhands it’s easy to see how this film fell thought the cracks; however, Ryder turns in a solid performance and shows once again why she was such a great young actress.

When look over the filmography of director Jim Abrahams (Airplane!, Top Secret!, and Hot Shots!), one might think that Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael is out of place on that list; and while it’s not blatantly bashing you over the head with the odd humor, one can see where the film is coming from and get a better understanding of the subtle humor being depicted. In fact, it is the subtly of the humor that makes the film so endearing and writer Karen Leigh Hopkins can be given credit for that.


Dinky gets hair tips from Tim Burton and Robert Smith.

The DVD:

The Video:

The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1. There isn’t a lot going on in this film cinematically. It is all pretty standard but the transfer here is very nice and this film gets a fine presentation.

The Audio:

The film is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. The sound here is fine as well. Again, nothing special going on and nothing to complain about. Very solid.

Extras:

Sadly there is nothing. I’m sure Ryder wasn’t so busy she couldn’t come in and talk about the movie for ten minutes. I guess the studio just didn’t care enough to make it happen.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

7.5
THE VIDEO

8
THE AUDIO

8
THE EXTRAS

0
REPLAY VALUE

7
OVERALL
6
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

The Inside Pulse
This is a fun, quirky little film and it’s nice to see it finally on DVD. Sadly, the complete lack of any special features really hurts the disc’s overall score. Seriously, would it have hurt the studio to put the trailer on there? And, oh yeah, who the hell names a girl Dinky anyway?

Mike Noyes received his Masters Degree in Film from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. A few of his short films can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikebnoyes. He recently published his first novel which you can buy here: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Days-Years-Mike-Noyes-ebook/dp/B07D48NT6B/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528774538&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+days+seven+years