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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
What is junior high school but a strange, disorienting pastiche of black comedy, tragedy, soap opera, and (most of all) horror movie? Well, that pretty much describes Todd Solondz's astonishingly honest and clear-sighted film, Welcome to the Dollhouse. Like Solondz's even more controversial follow-up--the acclaimed and despised Happiness (1998)--Dollhouse unflinchingly looks deep into its characters' souls (and their embarrassing desires, and their floundering sexuality) in ways that can be simultaneously disturbing and liberating, appalling and hilarious. Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo) is a hapless seventh-grade geek whose cruel and contemptuous schoolmates have nicknamed her (what else?) 'Wiener Dog.' Everything about Dawn is so awkward--the way she looks, talks, moves--that it's no wonder other kids dump on her. They're most likely so insecure about themselves that they're terrified of the Wiener Dog they know lurks somewhere down inside themselves, too. So, the best social and psychological survival tactic is to distance themselves from Dawn by relentlessly reminding her of her 'place' at the bottom of the junior-high pecking order. Solondz's vision is hardly sentimental, and you wouldn't even call it 'compassionate,' but it is a moral vision: authentic, undiluted, and, in the end, understanding. --Jim Emerson
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The story of a young Keith Olbermann, lol j/k
Welcome to the Dollhouse is a rare and refreshing dark comedy, it's hip, edgy, and all the kids will be talking about it when they're skateboarding and playing hackeysack.
Hey there, how do you like that hip, in your face, logline that I wrote for this movie? I think it's quite proactive. Kidding aside, it is for some reason quite a rare find, even if the subjects it addresses have been milked to death. Adolescent angst, nerds dealing with everyday life and trying to fit in, it's all ... Read More
Rating:  - I'd prefer the dollhouse
This film was touted as a fantastic dark comedy. I got the dark part. I'm still waiting on most of the comedy. It was very well acted and I'd even say finely directed... but something was missing. The plot just did not seem to go anywhere after such a strong setup and such stellar presentation of rich characters. I look forward to seeing where this ensemble goes from here, as everyone in it shone. I just wish the darkness could have shed some light on a plot.
Rating: - Scathing, Wicked, Sad and Funny.
No one does Black Comedy better than Todd Soldonz, and while this won't have one watching through their fingers like his follow-up "Happiness," but this surely will go down as the most-scathing portrayal of junior high ever filmed. Low-budget, but with writing and acting like this I don't need great lighting or a slick production. If you hated junior high, highly reccomended. If you were a Mean Girl or Boy, you will see how your actions affected others.
Rating:  - A bit depressing to be a fun Dollhouse
Todd Solondz does it again and for a reason. We're introduce to Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo), an awkward seventh grader who is put down by her peers because of her physical appearance. The taunting Dawn endures is extreme and does not come across as even slightly reminiscent of anything that happened in my high school, but this fact does not take away from the empathy we feel for her as she struggles through her daily life. As if school weren't bad enough, Dawn's home life doesn't leave much to ... Read More
Rating: - Welcome to the Dollhouse
A harrowingly accurate, darkly hilarious look at that time of life most of us would prefer to forget, Solondz's portrait of gawky pre-adolescence visits all the landmarks of childhood hell: peer abuse, sexual awkwardness, and the general sense that people are the source of all misery. Matarazzo is fantastic as the ostracized, alienated tween who suffers the insults and indignities of her peers with stoic resignation. Sexton ("Kids") also registers well as Dawn's cruel, glowering classmate. "Dollhouse" ... Read More
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