Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael'' is a 1990 American
comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...
film that was directed by Jim Abrahams and written by Karen Leigh Hopkins. It stars
Winona Ryder Winona Laura Horowitz (born ), known professionally as Winona Ryder, is an American actress. Having come to attention playing quirky characters in the late 1980s, she achieved success with her more dramatic performances in the 1990s. Ryder's L ...
and Jeff Daniels.


Plot

Dinky Bossetti is a 15-year-old girl who was adopted as a baby and is constantly picked on at school. Dinky's antisocial attitude and behavior is caused by her intelligence, her adoptive parents not accepting her for who she is, and being bullied by her peers. Dinky's adoptive mother Rochelle is disappointed that her daughter has no interest in "feminine" things, such as makeup and nice clothing. Her adoptive father, Les, passively allows his wife to scold Dinky and send her to various "counselors" who are little more than temporary jailers. Her teachers give her no support when classmates ostracize, taunt, and throw things at her. Dinky enjoys thumbing her nose at her peers and embarrasses Gerald, a cute popular boy, by reading a condescending love poem to him in class. Dinky is befriended by the new school guidance counselor Elizabeth Zaks, who recognizes her intelligence and spirit. Ms. Zaks tries to encourage Dinky to improve her appearance and get along better with others without compromising her true self. Gerald begins to show interest in Dinky and tries to get other students to stop harassing her, but Dinky takes no notice as she becomes convinced that she is the abandoned daughter of Roxy Carmichael, a former town resident who left for Hollywood and has been invited to return for the dedication of a new municipal building. Dinky becomes fixated on the many similarities she shares with Roxy and questions the townsfolk for memories of her. Dinky is then led to Denton Webb, Roxy's old boyfriend. He reveals that he and Roxy secretly had a child before she left town. Dinky's questions about Roxy prompt Denton to become obsessed with revisiting his romance, causing him to become more short-tempered and dismissive of his family. Fed up, his wife leaves him and tells him that Roxy never loved him. Meanwhile, Dinky becomes convinced that when Roxy arrives for the ceremony, she will take Dinky away to a new life. On the day of Roxy's arrival, Dinky packs her suitcase and dresses up for the building dedication. At the ceremony, Rochelle reveals that she invited representatives from a boarding school to send Dinky away, but Les finally stands up to his wife and reminds her Dinky is their daughter no matter what. The townspeople eagerly await Roxy's arrival and expect her to emerge from a limousine that pulled up to the ceremony. Instead, the townspeople are left with a note explaining that Roxy is unable to attend. Distressed, Dinky runs after the car and Denton finally realizes the reason for Dinky's interest in Roxy. He tells her that his child with Roxy was born premature and did not survive, so Dinky is not Roxy's child. Devastated, Dinky is comforted by Gerald and realizes she was chasing a fantasy. She decides to make peace with herself and her life as it is. Meanwhile, Rochelle tears up the boarding school brochures while Denton burns his Roxy memorabilia, hinting at a possible reconciliation with his wife. Dinky returns home where Gerald greets her, saying, "Welcome home, Dinky Bossetti."


Cast


Production notes

The setting of the film, Clyde, Ohio, is a real town. However the film features locations in Sandusky, Ohio as well. Located on the shore of
Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...
.


Reception

''Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael'' received mixed reviews. On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film has a 50% approval rating based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a score of 44 out of 100 based on 19 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


Soundtrack

Thomas Newman Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is best known for his film scores, earning accolades of six Grammy Award, Grammy Awards, an Emmy Awards, Emmy Award, two British Academy F ...
composed the original score for the film, which was released on cassette and compact disc by Varèse Sarabande. Although Melissa Etheridge wrote and performed two original songs for the film - "Don't Look At Me" and "In Roxy's Eyes (I Will Never Be the Same)" - neither is included on the soundtrack album; while the former has never been released, the latter is included on her 1993 album '' Yes I Am'' as "I Will Never Be the Same". # In the Closet (1:45) # Little Black Bird (1:23) # Hers Are Nicest (1:10) # Refrigerator Shrine (2:36) # Missing Bossetti Child (:56) # Wake Up (1:26) # Clyde (1:44) # Her Limousine (1:57) # Several Letters (1:12) # Choke It (2:18) # Arriving by Aeroplane (:56) # Cleveland (1:12) # Yours Are Nice (:41) # Baby Soup (2:56) # In a Beauty Parlor (:35) # G. on a Bike (1:06) # Her Majesty's Dress (1:22) # This Was My Intention (2:29) # In a Small Town (1:33)


References


External links

* * * {{Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker 1990 comedy-drama films 1990 films 1990 independent films 1990s American films 1990s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 1990s English-language films 1990s satirical films 1990s teen comedy-drama films American coming-of-age comedy-drama films American independent films American satirical films American teen comedy-drama films English-language comedy-drama films English-language independent films Films directed by Jim Abrahams Films scored by Thomas Newman Films set in Ohio ITC Entertainment films Paramount Pictures films