Rosalie Goes Shopping movie review (1990)

"Rosalie Goes Shopping" is the third movie directed by Percy Adlon and starring Sagebrecht, whose previous collaborations were "Sugarbaby" and "Bagdad Cafe." She is an unlikely looking movie star, plump and angelic and somewhere around 40, but it cannot be denied that she has a particular screen quality: She glows. It is an innocent, benevolent glow. She is happy with herself, pleased to make others happy, and she lets tomorrow take care of itself.

The movie doesn't tell her story as a financial thriller, with lots of dates and times and bank balances. Adlon is more concerned with the meaning of what she does. She sees comfort and plenty all around her, she wants it for her family, and she finds that people will sell it to her on credit, time and plastic. So why save up first? Live it up now and let your ship come in tomorrow! The family has its doubts. Some of the children seem to suspect uneasily that Mom may be living in a dream world, and Davis would be worried, too, if he thought about such things. Certainly Rosalie's parents grow concerned when they visit from Germany and see children being raised with little discipline, a household being run on credit - and their own return tickets being sold to raise a little emergency cash.

"Rosalie Goes Shopping" records the mood of a large part of society - of those people in the TV commercials and sometimes in real life, who measure their happiness by material possessions, brand names and the latest models of the newest gizmos. Rosalie occupies the center of the film, almost in a daze; she's a juggler who can keep all of her balls in the air only if she stays half-hypnotized by their rhythm.

Call her attention to anything - especially her current net worth - and the whole act would come crashing to earth.