Product Details

• Actors: Winona Ryder, Jeff Daniels, Laila Robins, Thomas Wilson Brown, Joan McMurtrey
• Directors: Jim Abrahams
• Writers: Karen Leigh Hopkins
• Producers: Karen Leigh Hopkins, Penney Finkelman Cox
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: January 1, 1998
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301954815
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #95,629 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Blondie's Deborah Harry has said that as a little girl, she had hoped Marilyn Monroe was her mother. The fantasy of having a celebrity parent is not lost on 15-year-old Dinky Bossetti (Winona Ryder), who is positive that the glamorous Roxy Carmichael is indeed her birth mother. The 1990 film Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael is more about Dinky and the town's obsession with its one claim to fame than Roxy, who really isn't all that famous. (She had a song written about her.) Little seen and seldom heard, Roxy works more as a poetic device here, causing the townspeople of her small Midwestern hometown to get all worked up about her return home and delving into why their worth is tied to the glamorous life Roxy represents. Ryder was in her late teens when she tackled this role, and no amount of loose black clothing or surly demeanor can mask her gamine beauty. Still, she manages to pull off the role of the class outcast, who in all probability would've had a better life if her parents hadn't stuck her with the oddball name of "Dinky." As she explains to someone who is confused by her actions, "It's not for you to understand, really." But Dinky is a stubborn teenager who is sure that her life would have been better if it turned out that Roxy is her birth mother. Indeed, it could've been. Roxy had an affair with local landscaper Denton Webb (Jeff Daniels) and gave the baby up for adoption exactly 15 years ago. Hmmm. As it turns out, Dinky was adopted, too. The film is pleasant and Ryder is a joy to watch, but in terms of offering a compelling storyline, it's not much different from your average movie of the week. --Jae-Ha Kim

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky but delightful., May 29, 2001

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is such a Winona Ryder movie. (I mean that in the best way possible; she really shines in this movie.) She plays teenaged, quirky, confused, unpopular Dinky Bosetti living in small town Ohio. She was adopted as a baby by a couple who she cannot relate to (especially the "mother", played by Frances Fisher) and who cannot relate to her, and she displays her frustration and confusion by wearing black and padlocking her bedroom door. The only allies Dinky feels she has are a group of homeless dogs she cares for at an old abandoned boat. Roxy Carmichael, the town's living legend, is a woman whose sexual prowess is so strong that it's not limited to either gender. Jeff Daniels does well playing Denton Webb, who was a lover of Roxy's in their younger days. Dinky interrogates Denton relentlessly about Roxy and begins to convince herself that Roxy and Denton are her biological parents. She eagerly anticipates Roxy's scheduled return (as does Denton, who is by now married with children) so that she can go away with her and finally have a mother who understands her. Dinky becomes so obsessed with Roxy's return that she becomes blind to the love that's all around her, from a school counselor, from a popular classmate, and from her adoptive father. I don't want to give away the whole movie. It's a worthwhile rental. PS You never get to find out who Roxy Carmichael is, which was mildly frustrating, but don't let that stop you.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "It's good to want things", June 10, 2007

By 

K. Hinton "avid reader" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (DVD)

Winona Ryder stars as Dinky Bossetti, an awkward teenager in a small Ohio town called Clyde. The citizens of Clyde are in an uproar because one of their own, a woman named Roxy Carmichael, who left town 15 years before to take Hollywood by storm is returning for the first time. Dinky finds herself enthralled by Roxy and begins to ask everyone she can for information about the woman. Why Roxy is famous, why she left town, what she was like? The more answers Dinky gets to her questions, the more she finds herself convinced that Roxy is her long-lost mother and that when she comes back, she'll take Dinky back to Hollywood with her.

Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael came out when I was 10 years old and I remember being completely in love with it. Winona Ryder is at her best as this misunderstood teen misfit who doesn't fit in with the kids in her school nor with her own family and has to look elsewhere to make a place for herself. Dinky's obsession with Roxy gives her a reason to belong and finally makes her feel like she might fit in somewhere. Almost 20 years later, this film is still as great as it was when I was a kid. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys those early 90's films about misanthropic teenagers and their coming-of-age.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dinky, my hero...., May 20, 2002

By 

C B Salter (earth (i think)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Its hard to star rate this. It's a film that doesn't explain itself - you either get it or you don't.
Words that occur are:
Incomplete, quirky, beautiful. If you had a rough time at school (or are at this time) you'll easily find the nuggets in this film. Dinky is my hero!