Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE is one of THE best flicks I've ever seen! I highly recommend watching it at least once (I'm on somewhere around my 18th view)! From start to finish, this movie had me glued to the screen, despite my being one of those multi-taskers. ; ) Are you in junior high school? ...or can you remember what junior high was like? In either case (and in spite of the painfulness of visiting or re-visiting that space in time), you'll be laughing your head off as you see this very realistic and accurate portrayal of life as such. I don't think it gets any more real than this. (BTW, no matter how bad YOUR junior high experience is/was, do NOT be scared off and DO watch this film--I guarantee you WILL laugh!) The story-line will take you from life in school and amongst peers to life at home with the family and the interactions of each member. Every single act-ress/or is perfect in their respective role(s). The music of Daniel Rey was also excellent and perfect for this movie too (Gotta admit that just like Dawn Wiener, I ended up having a crush on Steve too--wait, what? Yikes, don't tell anyone!) There is nothing bad to find or say about this flick. Todd Solondz is so on it, he just totally ROCKS! I can hardly wait to see "Wiener-Dog" (due to come out soon, I believe in June)--THANK YOU for being, Todd Solondz!

"Are you a lesbian?" Teenager Dawn Weiner is greeted with these words after finally sitting down in the school cafeteria just minutes after starring open-mouthed for a table where she would be hopefully welcome. It is obvious that poor Dawn is the school reject, a dandelion among roses, or so the nasty cheerleaders who ask her this rude question choose to believe. After denying the question, a possible lesbian of years to come announces that Dawn had just come onto her and later will demand to watch her defecate in the school bathroom. This isn't a polite movie, and to put blame where it really should go, Dawn's treatment at the hand of these bullies is not helped by the adults in her life: her nasty teacher, the principal who believes he is trying to help her, and especially, her self-centered parents who baby her little sister while basically treating her equally as nasty as the students do.Mother (Angela Pietropinto) is the biggest culprit, always believing the worst about her, and emotionally abusing her every chance she gets. Anyone who has felt that their parents hated them simply because they misunderstood them will identify with Dawn here. She spoils the Jon Benet Ramsey look-alike Missy (Daria Kalinina) and belittles poor Dawn every chance she gets. Like a character out of a John Waters movie, Mrs. Weiner should go down in the hall of fame as one of the nastiest movie mothers ever. She makes Faye Dunaway's Joan Crawford look like Sally Field's M'Linn from "Steel Magnolias" in comparison.While it is understandable that she'd want Dawn to tear down the clubhouse she's built (it is after all an eyesore), the way she does it is without any type of sensitivity. Father (Bill Buell) isn't any better, maybe a bit quieter in his abuse, but still supportive of it. The only remotely likable member of the family is brother Mark (Matthew Faber), and he ain't any prize, either, totally selfish with his consumption of his rock band and desire for education, but perhaps it's because he can't wait to escape from his truly messed up family. Missy is one of those nightmare "Bad Seed" children, oh so pretty, oh so polite, but phony, phony, phony. While I wouldn't wish a fate which befalls her on any child, I can see why Dawn can't stand her.Dawn, herself, ain't totally without faults. She bullies herself, in this case, her only friend, a sixth grader who hangs out with her in the clubhouse, obviously desperate for a friend: any friend. After a scene with a bully (as Brendan Sexton Jr.) who has threatened to rape her, Dawn yells at this innocent kid, who has just offered her comfort, calling him a faggot. Heather Matarazzo gives a heartbreaking performance as the unfortunate Dawn, someone you are sure will either end up an ax murderess or a suicide victim. As for the character of Brandon, the bully who has threatened to rape Dawn, Sexton gives an insight to what makes a bully a bully. He obviously is curious about who Dawn really is underneath, yet can't help but treat her like crap when around their fellow students. But once alone with her, he reveals who he truly is, and this reminds me of junior high bullies I knew who actually became quite a different person when alone with me. Still no excuse, but an excellent insert into the screenplay to allow us to see the multiple dimensions of seemingly really horrid kids. Victoria Davis reminded me a lot of a young Jodie Foster, albeit one who needs to wake up and stop harassing other people for being something her character obviously is.The ending is a sad one, an insight into what is going to be in this character's life. Yes, there are moments where you can't help but laugh, and yet, still feel bad about the fact that you are indeed laughing. Bullying is, in fact, no laughing matter, but perhaps that is the intention of the writer and director to get us to see that while he wants us to laugh, he also wants us to think. In thinking about it, hopefully we will grow up and realize that humanity really needs to get away from the images it tries to project on children to be. Grow up, he says, Dawn Weiner could be you, your daughter, your sister, your best friend's kid. Time to wake up and smell the junior high school cafeteria mystery meat.

The thing about watching a film like this at a time when the American high school genre has moved on to the much rosier visions of Napoleon Dynamite and Glee is that it strikes you how almost every character is a flawed, unlikeable person. Sure, you feel sorry and empathise with Dawn, the main character, but she's equally willing to bully, and doesn't have saving graces like the standard US school film geek - she's no brainbox.The guys in the film are portrayed as far less vindictive than the girls - bad boy Brandon has a sort of rogue honour, and the main fault of the other males in Dawn's life is that they are obsessed with doing their own thing or else following expectations laid down for them.It's a very watchable film - more so than Todd Solondz's later works. It looks like the work of an embittered outsider, but at least an outsider who, like the main character, tries to do their own thing against the odds.

Heather Matarazzo stars as Dawn Weiner in Todd Solondz'ode to junior high school, otherwise known as middle school. She's a student at Benjamin Franklin Junior High School where she is mercilessly harassed by other students, male and female alike. She is also scapegoated by clueless parents and self-absorbed siblings. She longs for excitement in the fantasy arms of a high school guy, far too old for someone of her ilk. Dawn agrees to be raped by another guy at her school, and somehow there's still hope? This too is a misdirected abusive situation, which naive kids like Dawn do not understand. Seriocomic results are harvested throughout the film from similar situations. The only thing is, the film seems like a one note tapestry illustrating the slings and arrows of junior high and nothing more. The relentlessness of Dawn's mistreatment is clear; at the end, Dawn runs off to New York to find her kidnapped sister. She discovers her sister is found via a phone call, but then her mother is too busy with the media to talk to her at that moment. As it is, it's a bitterly funny look at the tween years of a put upon girl struggling to find direction for herself when the adults in her life fail to provide any. If you're looking for a redeeming moment in the film, then this might be it: Her realization that adults would never provide any meaningful direction in her life. *** of 4 stars.