Rating: 
Summary: The hell of Junior High
Review: I don't know about you, but I can't drive by the video store without thinking about which video I want to rent next. Recently I rented "Welcome to the Dollhouse", a thoroughly fresh take on adolescent geekdom. The low-budget, independent feature, written and directed by Todd Solondz, drew major attention after winning the top prize at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival.The plot revolves around the spectacularly unpopular Dawn Wiener (well played by 12-year-old Heather Matarazzo). Known around Benjamin Franklin Junior High as "Wiener Dog", Dawn is shunned and tormented throughout the film. If popularity were a ladder, Dawn would be near the botton rung. She's not even popular in her own family, her irritatingly cute kid sister grabbing all the attention. I really liked the way the film showed there are those who are even lower on the pecking order and how Dawn, herself, is not above lobbing insults. "Welcome to the Dollhouse" doesn't pretent to be absolutely realistic. Some scenes are over-the-top. But the movie is universally appealing, I believe, touching memories that are shared by many of us. I read where New Yorker magazine described the film as "Hateful". I disagree and would describe the movie as a comedy, but a sad and brutal one.
Rating: 
Summary: A superior dark comedy, a poison slice of American Pie
Review: One thing you will notice when you turn this movie on and begin watching it is how incredibly right and true to life it is. The movies strength lies in it's sarcasm. It is serious, but it doesn't take itself seriously. If junior high bit you, this movie bites back. You are forced to admire the courage with which the character's face every day of their misunderstood lives.
The protagonist of this movie, named Dawn Wiener (they call her wienerdog) is shy, softspoken and awkward, with a odd mismatching retro style of dressing and big wiry glasses. Therefore, she is labeled a loser. Like all junior high school kids she wants to be popular. Despite the movie's various character, the focus never really shifts from Dawn.
Enter Steve, the most popular guy in the high school. He is forced into playing in Dawn's brother's (also a nerd) band in return for tutoring in math class. Dawn decides that she is in love with him and tries various hilarious strategies to win him over.
The best thing about this movie is it's dark look at average suburban life. Yes, maybe you can be average, safe and live in a house with a white picket fence, but the pecking order still exists. Alienation exists everywhere.
The theme song is perhaps the best part of an exceptional movie. It expresses the bitter and sometimes painful experience of suburban life, junior high, and being an outcast anywhere. At the end, the movie leaves you with one hard luck comforting message. The message is that even Junior High is not forever. Someday, Dawn Wiener could still be someone important.
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Rating:
Summary: Well
Review: Depressing, but very well made and acted. A hard-hitting heavy dose of reality. And many seem to think that everyone has gone through it in junior high and everyone has at one time or another been at the lower end of the social spectrum. It's not true. There is a fine line set and you either are at the bottom or you aren't. And that order usual keeps itself maintained. The popular usually stay popular and the geek usually stays at the bottom.
Rating:
Summary: I now feel a LOT better about my junior high years...
Review: On the social ladder of junior high, Dawn can go no lower. Rejected at school as a loser, she's unable to find any respite from this even at home. Dawn is a middle child sandwiched between her genius-like, computer geek older brother and her incredibly precious, can-do-no-wrong little ballerina sister. Despite the fact that her little sister will immediately make you hate her character, the little actress turned in an excellent performance. I almost felt bad for being happy when the little sister vanishes, but I realized that even though Dawn got her fondest wish, it turns out to be a nightmare. Even when Dawn seems to be winning, she's really just losing more. Dawn gets romantically involved with a class bad-boy, seeking to grab some sort of love or attention any way she can, going so far as to not be threatened by the boy's promise to rape her. She's willing to be a victim just to get some sort of notice. It's an amazing movie, although disturbing at some points, it's pretty true to adolescent life. If you want to see the film before you actually invest in a copy, look for it on the Independent Film Channel or Bravo, as both stations run it quite a lot. It's definitely worth it. Heather Matarazzo is going to be one to watch on the indie movie scene...
Rating:
Summary: ya gotta see this!
Review: "Welcome to the Dollhouse" is one of the most hilarious films I've ever seen. It's about a dorky 7th grade girl, (which I was, now I'm a dorky 8TH grade girl) named Dawn Weiner who is bullied by her parents and her classmates. Everyone in her middle school seems to hate her, probably since they are afraid that they have the same qualities (or lack thereof) as Dawn. The catch of the film is the realistic portrayal of Middle School life. Brendan Sexton III plays that kid from over the tracks, yep we all know or knew that kid, the one who doesn't look washed or loved as much as he should and lives in that OTHER part of town and uses it to intimidate people so everyone's scared of him. He pretends to hate Dawn, happy to find someone more pathetic than himself, but really likes her and she likes him too, but she's already delved into an infatuation with her brother's hunky long-haired friend. It also shows the cruelty of everyone in Dawn's grade, especially the nasty popular girls who talk about parties she's not invited to and call her a "weener-dog." After enough abuse, Dawn starts to retaliate, sorta. She becomes mean. But after about five hours, she realizes that it doesn't work for her, and goes back to being herself, insecure, miserable, and harmless as a fly. Dawn is a pathetic, unpleasant character; she's not really friendly, athletic, or musical, but she does have a bit of intelligence, which lets her realize that the abuse she takes is not right. Heather Matarazzo should have gotten an oscar for this role. She becomes the character so well, that I could not think of her any other way except as Dawn, although there's no way she could possibly be this unpleasant in real life. There's a little bit of hope for Dawn Weiner, and a lot of hope for the career of Todd Solondz, a brilliant 32 year old man who has to be just a tad perverted to understand how grueling it is to be a 7th grade girl.
Rating:
Summary: Painfully realistic
Review: I felt like switching this movie off a lot of the time. Having been where Dawn was throughout high school, I didn't think it was possible for me to watch right to the end. I was told that this movie was the story of my life. Not quite. But I did identify with some parts - Dawn being called a loner, her looks, being called ugly. But what really upset me, was the director heavily focusing on looks in the movie. I don't know why I still get upset over that kind of thing in movies. And the fact that Dawn does exactly what everyone does to her - she turns round, and says hurts them. But that's cos she's been bullied herself, so effectively, she turns into the bully. But of course, we've all been there, haven't we? Don't say you haven't, go and dig out your old photo album. Look at the dorky hair, clothes, teeth in bad need of a brace - I could go on. And we've all had that embarrassing, awkward first kiss - I've NEVER put a spell on a guy just to make him like me! (It wouldn't work, believe me) Heather Matarazzo, although quite pretty now, is probably always going to be cast in "character" roles, than anything else. What I really hated was where were all the kids with bad skin?! Even Dawn had porcelain skin. It's not fair, nor is it true. Dawn was made to look all the worse, by constantly having her hair scraped back, made to wear god-awful clothes, and those terrible clothes (although I found an old pair of glasses when cleaning out my drawers - did I wear those?!) This is a good film to watch, although I can't see myself touching a guy with a bargepole who bullied me, or called me names. That bit just didn't ring true. It's not a film I would watch again, it upset me that bit too much. But it's worth having a look at if you can get your hands on a copy.
Rating:
Summary: Realistic film about the horrors of high school
Review: "Why do you hate me?" asks Dawn, a junior high outcast. "Because you're... ugly," replies her classmate, in one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in "Welcome to the Dollhouse". Heather Matarazzo plays Dawn Wiener, a junior high school student with no friends and parents who favour her younger sister Missy. Dawn is constantly harassed, especially by Brandon, a boy involved in drugs. After enduring what she does at school, Dawn comes home to her family - a family that could really care less about her. During the course of the film, I couldn't stop feeling sorry for Dawn because, like most people who can relate to this movie, I was sort of like Dawn when I was in school. Heather Matarazzo perfectly portrays Dawn in a way that most other actresses probably couldn't. She brings realism and honesty to the role and keeps the movie afloat during the last twenty minutes when it gets a bit silly. All in all, "Welcome to the Dollhouse" has been able to convey the realities of high school, unlike some recent movies and television shows. This is a MUST for anyone who didn't have the greatest time in school.
Rating:
Summary: A Painful Pleasure
Review: When I first saw "Welcome to the Dollhouse" in the theater, I had mixed feelings about it. Although I found myself totally immersed in this offbeat story of a pathetic and persecuted girl, I initially questioned whether the movie really had a heart. What truly impressed me was Todd Solondz's frighteningly realistic depiction of junior high. As far as I'm concerned, it would be impossible for a filmmaker to exaggerate the torture of those hellish years, and Solondz really captured the experience to its full extent. What I considered somewhat unrealistic and offputting at the time was the way Dawn's family came across as so uncaring and even malicious. The film is obviously a black comedy, intended for uncomfortable laughs, but it seemed that these characters were so impossibly mean that they risked becoming ugly caricatures that you couldn't take seriously. I came away feeling that I had just witnessed something very intense and moving, yet I also felt the movie was overly preoccupied with its intent to shock and disturb. Since that initial viewing, I have purchased the video and watched it at least five times. With each viewing, I have found more and more truth and resonance in the bleak and hopeless world that Solondz constructed...and have become more and more convinced of its status as a minor masterpiece. Even though there is a lot of over-the-top venom and hostility thrown around in this film, there are also heartbreaking moments of raw and deeply-felt emotion that anyone who has ever wanted to be loved and accepted can surely relate to (in other words, the majority of humankind). One of the most poignant segments is when Dawn dreams that everyone in her life is declaring their love for her, only to wake up to her reality: she is alone and lying on a dirty city street. Then there's always the film's final and most emotionally devastating image of Dawn riding on a bus to Disneyland with her Glee Club. Those last few seconds always give me goosebumps. And don't forget the all-time best movie lines that have become staples among my circle of friends: "Tell your sister you love her!" and "At 3:00, you will be raped." I am now convinced that anyone who is unable to find some value in this movie is either 1) one of the lucky few who was generic enough to make it through those junior high years free of torment or 2) one of the mean and malicious people depicted in the movie who turned the rest of us into a bunch of Dawn Weiners.
Rating:
Summary: realistic account
Review: welcome to the dollhouse is a touching and realistic account of what its like to be on the outskirts of growing up. dawn is a young gyrl trying to fight her way in. she deals with bullies, her parents rejection, and her own self hate. the film has its funny moments such as dawn standing over her sleeping sister's bed with a hammer in her hands. the character of dawn is well played but barely develops. brendon sexton jr plays brandon, a bully in his own right but has feelings for dawn. his role is small but quite significant. dawn's family is very unlikeable strictly because of their arrogance and complete disregard of dawn.
overall the film is good. you will find yourself not only sympathizing with dawn but may find her angst and vulnerbility alittle like your own in the often harsh world of growing up. the ending could be better; it leaves you wondering about alot of things. but despite the ending the film is heartfelt and very satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: an ode to everyone's inner "wiener"
Review: I loved the character Dawn. she's awkward, innocent in a lot of ways, and out of step with her peers who reject and torment her daily. this movie is darkly hysterical. it has some of the best quotes of any movie out there. i loved that Dawn's development as a character was so true. she eventually rejects her best and only friend out of frustration and (i think) a hopeless attempt at making herself more acceptable to others. heather matarazzo is sheer genius at making this character come alive.
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