As they move from one cheap apartment to another, hoping that their precarious existence doesn’t fall apart on them for good, Vivian’s family are almost all in various stages of decay and uncertainty in their lives, while she has to cope with growing up without a mother to help her through the standard things a girl has to deal with in her teens.

It’s testament to Lyonne’s natural talent and inherent watchability that she steals almost every scene she’s in, even when she’s standing next to the likes of Alan Arkin, Marisa Tomei, and Carl Reiner.

Megan Bloomfield – But I’m A Cheerleader (1999)

Lyonne teamed with writer/director Jamie Babbit who directed three episodes of Russian Doll for this sharp comedy satire. Lyonne plays Megan Bloomfield, a high school cheerleader who’s sent to a conversion therapy camp when her family and friends suspect she’s a lesbian, where she meets and falls in love with Clea Duvall’s Graham Eaton.

This was Babbit’s first film (she’s since gone on to be one of the most interesting TV directors around, exec producing Silicon Valley, and working on everything from Santa Clarita Diet and Brooklyn Nine-Nine to Girls and many many more top shows) and it’s become something of a cult classic with a great cast including RuPaul (out of drag) and Melanie Lynskey, though it’s Lyonne’s performance that sits at the heart of the movie.

Crystal “White Girl” Van Meter – Freeway II: Confessions Of A Trickbaby (1999)

Matthew Bright decided to follow up his critically adored – but financially unsuccessful – low budget crime story, Freeway, with this fast sequel that was ultimately ignored or forgotten by just about everyone. Where the first movie was loosely based on Little Red Riding Hood, the follow-up film had a Hansel And Gretel vibe, and in this one, Natasha Lyonne and Maria Celedonio play two desperate sociopaths on the run from hefty jail sentences.