Welcome to the Dollhouse

with Heather Matarazzo, Christina Brucato, Victoria Davis
Written and directed by Todd Solondz
(Sony Pictures Classics)
by Mark Phinney

Oddly enough, both of the top dogs to take home Sundance kudos the past two years have spoken to me in relation to situations either currently going on in my life or recently passed. Ed Burns’ The Brothers McMullen really hit home as a true-to-life take on how relationships can go so easily astray, and if that wasn’t enough, now I’m reliving the nightmare that was junior high. Now, let me get one thing straight – I am not one of those schmucks who goes around claiming that nerddom is suddenly “cool.” Where the fuck were they when I was getting footballs shoved up my ass? (They were behind me doing the shoving, that’s where.) I was it, the real DorkCoy, and now that my powers are superior, I’m far from done with those who tortured… Anyway, that’s the gist of Welcome to the Dollhouse. Todd Solondz has obviously known a similar hell, as we see in the main character, Dawn Weiner (Heather Matarazzo), renamed “Weiner Dog” by the barbaric assholes who inhabit her school and invade her life. Her life is one of constant torture at the hands of schoolmates, teachers and family alike. Her only friend is her androgynous next-door neighbor, the member of her Special People Club, but even that gets torn down by her younger-daughter/older-son adoring Middle-American parental units. All Dawn asks in her solemn teen-loser voice is to understand why she must be the odd dog out. This film is different than most other teen flicks; while most of ’em set us up to cheer when the underdog fights back and wins, there are those who just break down, and Solondz pulls no punches on that score. The evil low-lifes of the world can crush a spirit like a grape between their fingers; Dawn’s only real triumph is that she remains unbroken despite it all. Hopefully, those of us with no fight left will use Welcome… to help summon the last of our inner strength. FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!