By: Erika Ashley
Four short years ago, comedienne and longtime feminist, Roseanne Barr ran to be President of the United States of America in the 2012 election. This gritty and raw documentary follows Roseanne from the idea’s conception to the bitter end of defeat. Throughout the film a different side of Roseanne emerges and a realistic view of how an “Average Joe” would go about attempting to run for office.
From the very beginning Roseanne is unapologetically honest about her true intentions of running for President, however you cannot help but notice something is much different from before. You see a real elderly woman fed up with modern day mudslinging politics and would rather try to handle it all herself then see another rich politician take office and continue running the country into the ground. The film outlines how Roseanne came to the idea of running for President, how she got into comedy and all of the positive changes she made during her reign as Queen of Prime-Time Comedy up to her departure from main stream media.
Admittedly while growing up I admired Roseanne for her blunt honesty and brash words. Her no holds bar approach at humor and never saying she is sorry is what every funny feminist girl aspires to be. But, in this film you don’t see the old Roseanne, or the Roseanne you think you know. Instead the viewers get a bitter, pot-smoking, wine slugging, old broad that reminds you of the ladies that sit on their porch and yell at passerby’s about the good old days.
The content of this documentary was almost embarrassing and overly frustrating listening to her antics and her far far far left babble. Her comments and facts sounded as if they came straight out of a tabloid magazine and held no true weight. Beside the infuriating political content and Roseanne’s incessant nagging, the film itself was severely low budget. There couldn’t have been more than one or two camera crew members and was probably shot on a series of iPhones or digital cameras. There was hardly any shot framing or decent transitions. Watching the film felt like it was more than likely Roseanne’s own pet project and not meant for major consumption, but how this film will survive is beyond me. Granted the interview segments with other celebrities and family commentary was more professional and well put together than the segments of Roseanne or her campaign manager alone.
This film is certainly not for everyone as most people tend to either love Roseanne or hate her and sadly this documentary does not paint her in a great light. Although, she did do amazing things in the 90s her time has finally come and she should just stay out of the limelight and think twice about wanting to run for Presidency again during this election. Hopefully she has learned her lesson and this film will quietly fizzle out during its limited theater release. Skip this documentary if you like Roseanne even in the slightest so you can keep your good memories of her fresh instead of seeing her in this film way past her prime.
Roseanne for President! Is not yet rated and has a 96-minute runtime.
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