Movie review: 'Life During Wartime' at Walker Art Center

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Paul Reubens in "Life During Wartime"

By Colin Covert, Star Tribune

Last update: October 22, 2009 - 5:33 PM

Todd Solondz, the provocateur behind such comedy-of-discomfort classics as "Welcome to the Dollhouse" and "Storytelling," returns with a sequel of sorts to his balefully funny "Happiness." In "Life During Wartime" (unrated) we reconnect with the earlier story's maladjusted, self-absorbed characters, now played by new actors.

Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman) steps into Jon Lovitz's old role, even though that character committed suicide in the first film. The story concerns three frustrated sisters and the people in their lives. The characters grapple with trauma and ask if it's possible -- or desirable -- to forgive the imperfectly reformed people who caused it. The cast includes Shirley Henderson, Ciaran Hinds, Allison Janney, Michael Lerner, Charlotte Rampling and Ally Sheedy. Solondz's script took the best screenplay prize at the Venice Film Festival; the film was funded by Minneapolis-based production company Werc Werk Works.

(7:30 p.m. Wed., Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls. $10. 612-375-7622.)

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