Home on the Range

What a surprise. This seemingly forgotten film turns out to be a delight, a genuinely funny movie with a nicely skewed sense of humor and a tight, consistent story. The sense of humor derives largely from the inspired casting of Roseanne Barr as the lead character; her unique persona gives much of the bite to the jokes. The rest of the cast performs good work, too, in a variety of roles. And the songs, though a bit sparse for a true musical, work really well where they fit in, with good melodies and witty lyrics. (Having contributions from k.d. lang and Bonnie Raitt helped the quality quotient in a big way.) All in all, this one stands out as a very good movie that got a bit lost in the shuffle upon first release. Thank goodness there are such robust secondary sources for films these days; otherwise this one might have unfairly disappeared completely. Do yourself a favor and watch this flick if you’re one of those who missed out on its original run.