Roxy

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.

A rather condescending view of small-town hoopla. I suppose the film is an extended character study. Nothing wrong with that, but the film fails to engage. Interesting, the only passing reference to a lesbian affair, or fling, between two of the peripheral characters. I wonder if some of that subplot ended up on the cutting room floor. Inspired performances by Winona Ryder and Laila Robins couldn't save this movie. Grade: C

I had missed this movie years ago when it came out but now was able to view it on NBC's Peacock site, streaming. It is set and filmed mostly in the community of Clyde, Ohio, about 40 or so miles west of Cleveland and a few miles south of Sandusky Bay off Lake Erie.

The star is Winona Ryder, 17 during filming, as Dinky Bossetti. She is an outcast of sorts at school but in reality is one of the more normal, bright students. She knows she was adopted and doesn't seem to be totally accepted by her parents. They are considering sending her to a spacial school for difficult teenagers. When she learns more about the story of Roxy Carmichael who had a baby as a teenager then sent it to Cleveland for adoption right before she skipped town, Dinky begins to think Roxy is her real mother and intends to run off with her.

All this is sparked by news in town that after 15 years Roxy Carmichael is returning to Clyde and they plan to have a big celebration and dance in her honor. It doesn't really make sense for a community to be doing this for someone who ran away as a teenager but hey, it isn't my story.

Anyway I found this "coming of age" movie to be a bit better than its average rating would suggest. Ryder at her young age was already an accomplished and effective actress, playing Roxy as a suitably quirky character. Jeff Daniels is also very good.

Roxy Carmicheal was quite a treat. It showcases a young Winona Ryder's very obvious talent for acting, especially outcast roles, continuing her alternative edged film performances beginning with Lucas and Beetle Juice, which would continue onward into the future. The film viewed as a character study is much more enjoyable than the film viewed as a story about the prodigal homecoming of the immortalized Roxy Carmicheal to which the title refers. The real beauty of the film is witnessing the trials, the pathos, the dilemmas, and the funny stunts of social misfit Dinky (Ryder's character). I fell in love with this character, seeing her as almost a female equivalent to myself (or as I once was anyway). If you are in any way a misfit or rebel, whether you are male or female, you will instantly relate and have empathy for the character of Dinky, who virtually carries the film on her back (due credit should be given to Jeff Daniels' performance though, as another testimonial to his fine dramatic acting abilities). Unfortunately it somehow does not really work as a unified whole, but I agree with those who say this is underrated. It succeeds in creating a memorable and poignant atmosphere that may linger in the viewers' hearts and minds for a time afterward.

Winona Ryder has a big collection of forgotten but first-rate movies, and this is no exception. The acting was really good, and the music on the soundtrack made it memorable. Well worth a look, and a second, and a third...