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Title: Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Heather Matarazzo | ... | Dawn Wiener | |
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Victoria Davis | ... | Lolita |
| Christina Brucato | ... | Cookie | |
| Christina Vidal | ... | Cynthia | |
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Siri Howard | ... | Chrissy |
| Brendan Sexton III | ... | Brandon McCarthy (as Brendan Sexton Jr.) | |
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Telly Pontidis | ... | Jed |
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Herbie Duarte | ... | Lance |
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Scott Coogan | ... | Troy |
| Daria Kalinina | ... | Missy Wiener | |
| Matthew Faber | ... | Mark Wiener | |
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Josiah Trager | ... | Kenny |
| Ken Leung | ... | Barry | |
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Dimitri DeFresco | ... | Ralphy (as Dimitri Iervolino) |
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Rica Martens | ... | Mrs. Grissom |
Seventh-grade is no fun. Especially for Dawn Weiner when everyone at school calls you 'Dog-Face' or 'Wiener-Dog.' Not to mention if your older brother is 'King of the Nerds' and your younger sister is a cutesy ballerina who gets you in trouble but is your parents' favorite. And that's just the beginning--her life seems to be falling apart when she faces rejection from the older guy in her brother's band that she has a crush on, her parents want to tear down her 'Special People's Club' clubhouse, and her sister is abducted.... Written by Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>
"Welcome to the Dollhouse" is a feel-bad movie with little to make most viewers smile. It's depressing, awful and painful to watch. It's also incredibly insightful and incredibly well made.
Heather Matarazzo stars as Dawn, a miserable kid who just began middle school. She's not particularly pretty, nor talented nor self- assured. The other kids are incredibly nasty and take full advantage of her insecurities, her teacher could use euthanizing and her mother is a complete jerk...and as a result Dawn is depressed and lost. The film follows her during part of the school year and by the end, her life still seems to suck...just as much as when the film began.
So why do I give this miserable film an 8? Well, writer/director Todd Solondz really understands kids this age...and most Hollywood films completely get kids this age wrong! They usually make them too smart, too self-aware and too happy...which is great if you are a movie star but not reality. Here, however, Solondz explores what life can be like for kids who feel like outsiders...which is incredibly tough at that age. The only negative is that there really is no ending to this story...Dawn is still miserable, her mother still is a terrible parent and things look like it's just going to be more of the same. But wow...what an incredibly well made little film!