Rosalie Goes Shopping

Basically, the point of this movie is that everyone worships Marianne Sagebrecht, both the director and her fans. She's got enough charisma and personality to carry the movie on her own. Otherwise, all it's got is a thin plot with some very funny scenes; the direction inclines to pointlessly flashy camerawork. But who cares about inessentials?

Weird, surreal, silly, bad acting and not very funny.

This film takes the word "quirky" to a whole new level. While it is a little dated now, due to advances in computers (and the fact that Rosalie's computer crimes would not likely happen today), it is such a monumentally freakish film that you just can't miss it.

How can you miss seeing the late Brad Davis in one of his most unlikely roles? And how can you miss seeing Judge Reinhold as a priest who keeps having to listen to Rosalie teling him of all her crimes? The mere spetacle of Germans in rural Arkansas is reason enough to see this fun little film. It has no big message, really, except poking fun of 1980's American consumerism, but the sheer wackiness of the family in this movie makes it a worthwhile diversion for a night when you could use a laugh.

It was delightfully quirky for the first half hour or so, reminiscent of John Waters, without the grossness or the sex. But it got dull thereafter--never as funny as it should have been--and dwindled to an ending that was so non-climactic, they had to intersperse it between the credits so you'd know it was over. Too bad, because the first part showed a lot of promise. Still, worth seeing if you're in the mood.

I'm giving this movie an 8 out of 10 vote. Anyone who loves Brad Davis should really check out this movie. He did a wonderful job in his role of "Liebling the strange and quirky crop duster from Stuttgart, AR. The movie is a bit slow in parts and trying to understand Marianne Sagebrecht's heavy German accent is difficult at times. However, I see the direction that Percy Adlon was going when he directed. The film's light humor and plot makes for delightful viewing as long as the viewer understands this is an indie film shot with a small budget. It's definitely worth watching. I'm not sure of any networks running the movie on cable but I did manage to obtain a VHS version of the movie for a relatively low price.