If you thought puberty was hard for you, wait until you meet Dawn Wiener. Yeah, you read that last name correctly. Maybe things were always going to be tough for Dawn, but Todd Solondz’s lovably misled try-hard protagonist doesn’t make it much easier for herself in this irreverent comedy. John Waters’ Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker belongs firmly on the other side of the cafeteria, mopping up high school suitors with the help of a single tear. This double feature celebrating the pangs of pubescent longing and that intangible mythos of cool is outrageous as they come. – Caroline Drew
