Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990)

This movie is for all the misfits out there that can't seem to find your place in the world. All of your pain, frustration and angst is tied up in Winona Ryder's excellent performance as Dinky Bosetti. Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael takes place in Clyde, Ohio, a small, rural town. In the movie, there are your typical 'cliques' and Dinky isn't part of any of them. She chooses to keep her independent, free-spirited self relegated to her 'ark', a broken down boat where she keeps a variety of misfit animals that she bonds with and treats like family. Her adoptive parents don't understand her, her classmates mock her and the only person who seems to 'get' her is the guidance counselor. Elizabeth Zaks. A fellow classmate, Gerald, secretly has feelings for Dinky which he expresses later on in the movie, which leads me to the actor who played him...Thomas Wilson Brown is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated actors out there. This guy has emotional depth and screen presence that's never-ending. I saw it in this movie, I saw it in "Honey, I shrunk the Kids." and I saw it in "The Mooring". He is one of the best actors out there! (Coincidentally, he strongly resembles a Montana cowboy I met and bonded with on a bus trip out of Arizona back in the mid-90's, but that's another story ;). Anyhow, he is an incredibly handsome guy and a terrific actor. His work speaks to that. I'm not sure if he's done anything recently, but he needs to. He has the talent and the looks to be an A list actor. Needless to say, this is probably my favorite movie of all time. This is a movie for anyone who has ever felt left out or different. The only real letdown is that we never really see Roxy Carmichael as she chooses to not show up to her own ceremony at the end of the movie. That's okay though; with all of the other story lines, you really didn't need that. All in all, wonderful movie!

15 years ago, Roxy Carmichael left town leaving behind her boyfriend and new baby. Now, she's coming home as a success story. Her former boyfriend Denton Webb (Jeff Daniels) is still not over her despite being married with kids. Dinky Bossetti (Winona Ryder) is adopted, bullied at school and a loner who keeps lots of animals at an abandoned boat. Dinky is convinced that she's the love child of Roxy and Denton. She's interested in class hunk Gerald Howells but he's reluctant to show affection for the class freak. Her only friend is the school counselor Elizabeth Zaks.Winona Ryder is perfectly cast as this sensitive outsider teen. She is great at playing this type of character. The rest of the movie lacks humor. It tries to be a sharp black comedy but the writing isn't good enough. Director Jim Abrahams is more known for his spoof movies. He doesn't seem to have a solid hold on a sensitive serious coming-of-age movie. The tone is awkward. The attempted comedy slams into Denton's anger and his side of the story. The movie works with Ryder but struggles without her.

This movie isn't about Roxy Carmichael coming home. How she got famous doesn't matter. What she looks like doesn't matter. What a legend everyone thinks she is doesn't matter. The point of this movie is much more profound. It is about the fantasies that we create in our minds. It is about the deep wants and hungers within us all, that nothing will actually ever satiate. It wasn't the fact that Gerald was still in love with Roxy Carmichael-it was the fact that he was in love with the idea of youth, a time past, and the unattainable. Dinky's story was slightly different-I think the theme there was more so about the lies we tell our selves, and sometimes the delusions that carry us through. A subtle side story was of the lesbian relationship between Evelyn and Roxy. I think its significance goes far beyond what you see the film because of the often silenced and unspoken nature of same-sex relationships. People who experience this may be left with a "Roxy Carmichael" Syndrome, (most likely in the same sense that Gerald had it, as they mostly only portrayed Evelyn as wanting to out dress her ex-best friend when she arrived). Highly recommended for film buffs and anyone.

The movie is focused on the whole town of Clyde, Ohio, yet it's basically centered around Dinky. Dinky is a misfit, both at home (she's adopted) and school. Although most kids would not enjoy this and would want to keep their heads down, Dinky has her head up and is not afraid to admit that she's different. The town is going bonkers over the arrival of Roxy Charmichael, a person who went from a somebody in Clyde, to a somebody all across the world. You also get to see the life of Roxy's former love interest before she left Ohio, a man named Denton. Denton and Dinky form an interesting bond, she's obsessed with Roxy, he know literally everything about her. She becomes convinced that Roxy is her mom, due to what Denton tells her one day. All in all this movie is an original classic that let's the viewrs look into the life of nearly the whole town. Watch for Carla Gugino's cameo appearence at the very begining of the movie as young Roxy. The movie is basically saying, everybody wants to be somebody else, whether it's a famous person, or the kid next door, everybody wants to be somebody. This is a fine movie, so if you have nothing else to watch on t.v. and this is on, give it a shot.