When filmmaker Nancy Fliesler describes her mentally handicapped sister Marni as " articulate, " she doesn’t mean " in her own special way. " In Fliesler’s short (47 minutes) documentary, the slow-speaking, quick-witted Marni Jamieson — who’s profiled along with her similarly disabled husband — flashes a wicked dry humor with which she sasses her camera-wielding sis to hilarious effect. Spouse Kris, a custodian at Kids " R " Us, cracks his own share of jokes, none lost here thanks to subtitles that untangle his sometimes garbled speech. But despite a shared sense of humor, the two have (like most couples) radically different takes on their place in the world: Marni claims that their " special " status has cost her countless jobs and limited her child-rearing prospects, whereas Kris insists that they’re treated " just like everybody else. "

And that’s kind of the point. Rather than serving as " spokespeople, " the quirky Jamiesons show how meaningless such titles can be. Lifestyles of the Poor and Unknown (titled after a quip by Kris) leaves you not with an enlightened view of the mentally disabled but with some unexpected, satisfying laughs — and the sense that these two " unknowns " are well worth knowing.