Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
- Starring:
- Heather Matarazzo, Daria Kalinina, (more)
- Director(s):
- Todd Solondz
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- R
- Category:
- Independent Films, Comedy
Member Rating
My RatingTheatrical Release Information | See Details About All Versions
Twelve-year-old Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo) is perhaps the most put-upon adolescent in film history in Todd Solondz's bitterly hilarious black comedy Welcome to the Dollhouse. Dawn is bright but awkward, both physically and socially, and is appallingly unpopular among her peers, to whom she's better known as "Wienerdog." Possessing little charm or grace and perhaps the most misguided fashion sense of her generation, Dawn is not an easy girl to like and practically no one seems interested in making the effort. If life is tough for Dawn at school, it's hardly any better at home. While her folks dote on her gratingly cute younger sister Missy (Daria Kalinina) and look with pride to her bookish older brother Mark (Matthew Faber), Dawn is either ignored or treated as an annoyance. Dawn has developed a crush on Steve (Eric Mabius), the hunky guitarist Mark has drafted into his rock band (significantly, Mark is less interested in making cool noise or unloading teenage angst than in having another extracurricular activity to put on his college applications); Steve is polite but obviously not interested in her. However, Dawn has attracted the attention of a boy at school -- Brandon (Brendan Sexton), a mean-spirited junior thug whose idea of a good time is threatening Dawn with rape. A painfully accurate account of life in junior high (what Matt Groening called "the lowest pit of hell"), Welcome to the Dollhouse is also very funny, but writer and director Todd Solondz never lets the film's humor dilute the agony of its leading character; anyone who has ever been 12 years old will doubtless laugh at Dawn while uncomfortably recalling the horror of their own preteen years. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 87 mins
Complete Cast:
- Heather Matarazzo - Dawn Wiener
- Matthew Faber - Mark Wiener
- Bill Buell - Mr. Wiener
- Will Lyman - Mr. Edwards
- Christina Vidal - Cynthia
- Rica Martens - Mrs. Grissom
- Daria Kalinina - Missy Wiener
- Angela Pietropinto - Mrs. Wiener
- Brendan Sexton III - Brandon McCarthy
- Eric Mabius - Steve Rodgers
- Stacey Moseley - Mary Ellen Moriarty
- Victoria Davis - Lolita
- Director(s):
- Todd Solondz
- Writer(s):
- Todd Solondz
- Producer(s):
- Todd Solondz
- Theatrical MPAA Rating:
- R(Not For Children, Adult Situations, Adult Language)
- Categories:
- Independent Films, Comedy
- Closed Captioning:
- Check All Versions
- Subtitles:
- Check All Versions
- 1996 - Welcome to the Dollhouse - Independent Spirit Awards - Best Debut Performance
- 1996 - Welcome to the Dollhouse - Sundance Film Festival - Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic
