review for Down & Out With The Dolls on AllMovie

A fun, short, little indie picture about an all-girl rock band, Down & Out With the Dolls is set in Portland's rock scene as the band is formed, tries to make it, and collapses. Led by singer/bitch Fauna (Zoë Poledouris), who is the most charismatic member of the band and really has the rock queen role down, the Paper Dolls actually look to be a really great band, though they only perform once or twice in the film. Sometimes, the music in these sort of films about imaginary bands can be all wrong and fake-sounding, but the music here, also composed by Poledouris, sounds authentic and the soundtrack is impressive. There is no shortage of conflict between the band members, who decide to live together even though they have very little in common. The drummer, Reggie (Kinnie Starr), is a lesbian with a boyfriend, Mulder (Brendan O'Hara, funny in his small role), and she treats her various conquests much like a man would. Guitarist Kali (Nicole Barrett) is in love with Levi (Coyote Shivers), the singer of a local band called the Suicide Bombers, but he's more taken with Fauna and so Kali and Fauna battle it out over him and the direction of the band. The house party scene at the end the film seems like a real party, rather than one staged for a film, and the story moves at a clip and never gets bogged down in any kind of seriousness, which would not become its subject matter. Down & Out With the Dolls benefits from writer and director Kurt Voss, undoubtedly knowing his material and getting it right.