Do You Know the Muffin Man? (1989)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Kendra Dollison	Pam Dawber
Roger Dollison	John Shea
Sandy Dollison	Stephen Dorff
Teddy Dollison	Brian Bonsall
Marvin Bernstein	Matthew Laurance	½
Stephen Pugliotti	Anthony Geary
Judge Allen	Graham Jarvis	½

Review

A film that wants to attract attention to a serious problem, and that arguably has a good heart, but that is a painful document of a distressing mentality that was predominant of its time. In my native Norway, there was a case very similar to that portrayed in Do You Know the Muffin Man? in which almost an entire pre-school staff was accused and tried for sexual acts with children in their custody. There was a period in the late 80s and early 90s in which cases like these received a one-sided, biased treatment because of erroneous methods deployed by medics and psychologists as well as because of riotous public uproar. The result was several miscarriages of justice throughout the western world, and Do You Know the Muffin Man? mirrors many of the stances that led to these miscarriages. The filmmaker’s might think they were discussing here, but most of all they just reveal their lack of insight with this film. Some useful inter-human drama, especially within the Dollison family, is spoiled by an unqualified (or extremely atypical, if you’re kind) portrait of child molestation and pedophilia on one side, and of courtroom action on the other.