I'm giving this film a "10" to improve the unfair "5" voters have given it; it's really around a 7 or 8. There is a real goofiness to this film, even a charm, that I've seen in few other movies. The characters are quirky, alright, but less stupid than just seriously deluded, living in their dreamworlds. Rosalie dances blissfully along throughout the film under the illusion that credit and buying things is the reason for existence. (Of course, this is precisely the design that corporate America has for us assenting, duped citizens.) But Percy Aldon, the director, does not hold contempt for Rosalie; in fact she remains likable to the end of the film, even as (perhaps because) she bilks her creditors repeatedly. (Warning: do not try this at home!) And, up to the end, she appears to get away with it. Is she crazy? No more than most Americans, as loaded down with debt as most of us are. Rosalie's husband, played by the late Brad Davis, is the goofiest of all; what strange brainwaves was he channeling when he acting this role? And Judge Reinhold is fun as Rosalie's befuddled priest. I can't think of too many films that deserve DVD reissue more than this one. One day we may all look back at this neglected film, as small and quirky as it is, and see it as prophetic, a major explication of our nation's debtor woes. But I hope I'm wrong, that we Americans suddenly begin to eschew debt, make it taboo, and wake up to smell the roses. As Wordsworth wrote, "The world is too much with us."
Review of Rosalie Goes Shopping
