Review of Roxanne (1987) by Daniel K — 26 Aug 2009

3: Great script, great story, and a great lead performance. It is extremely funny and eminently entertaining. One of the problems I had with it was that I couldn't help but laugh out loud throughout despite the fact that I was kind of trying to fall asleep.

Needless to say, I stayed up and finished the movie. Steve Martin gives a virtuoso performance and really carries the film. The story is really impossibly ridiculous, but Martin and company carry it off wonderfully.

It's a charming small town filled with people that are just a little, or a lot, off. There never were towns quite like this, but we wish there were and we wouldn't mind living there. Hannah does well considering her character is actually one of the most ridiculous residing in the town.

Some of her actions and dialogue doesn't really make sense, but one is easily able to overlook this when it serves the comedy and/or the story. I'd say it falls into the same subgenre as Groundhog Day.

It is simultaneously hilarious, romantic, and a little magical. I could imagine Frank Capra or Preston Sturges making a picture like this. I almost gave it a 3.5.