BY MIKEY MIGO
“Welcome to the Dollhouse” is one of those underrated gems from independents past. It’s one of those movies that come on really late at night on a random week day on a cable channel with a little too much time on their hands. Its good stuff, but weird. Really, that’s part of the charm though. Writer/Director Todd Solondz hasn’t let up from there. Since then the guy specializes in the art of making weird and artsy indie movies. “Happiness” was his next one, a “bizarre movie” that covered a lot of controversial themes. From there was more of the same. He likes covering “taboo” topics. It’s gotten a little repetitive, but Solondz still manages to squeeze something out of each project. I wasn’t super excited about “Life During Wartime”, but the trailer won me over and the cast sounded awesome. We have Allison Janney, Ally Sheedy, Paul Reubens, Chris Marquette, and the very underrated and underused Michael Kenneth Williams. Those were the ones who got my attention and interest, but there ended up being more actors that were just as interesting as the ones I had hoped would be. The movie centers on the three sisters from Happiness played by Janney, Sheedy, and a very alluring Shirley Henderson. They all have their stories and sexual quirks. I don’t even want to get into the plot. There really isn’t much action in the movie. It’s all talking and is character driven. The movie covers topics of rape, pedophilia, homosexuality, and all that stuff. The movie tries to be “quirky” and put a different spin on these things and how people deal with them, but it doesn’t work for me. This movie tries HARD to be something more than “bizarre”, but it doesn’t. The topics and stories are lamer than they are shocking. I’m a male in my late 20’s. The content that’s supposed to be so “taboo” got me rolling my eyes way too much. The actors act their asses off. They put some HUGE dramatic chops out there over some dialogue that feels like it’s written with the only intention of offending people. This movie is like a cheap imitation of a John Waters film… only really pretentious and without any of the genuine art factor. I wanted to love this movie. I’m all about challenging taboos. I’m all about the cast. I’m more offended by the fact that I found this movie so tedious than I am about the content. I’m not shunning Solondz yet, but this is by far his weakest work. He’s coasting on vulgar. It looked good and was shot well, but overall feeling at the end of this movie was that I wasted my time. The only benefit of me seeing this is to be able to warn others to not waste their time. There are many better choices for “quirky”, “weird”, “bizarre”, and “obscene”. Horrible. D-
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