Welcome to the Dollhouse

UPC: 043396825697

Studio: Columbia TriStar

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language]

Summary: 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, Rovi

Category: Comedy

Awards: Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic – Sundance Film Festival Best Picture – Independent Spirit Awards Best Director – Independent Spirit Awards Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Independent Spirit Awards Best Debut Performance – Independent Spirit Awards Best Debut Performance – Independent Spirit Awards Best Supporting Actor – Independent Spirit Awards

Features: Digitally remastered audio and video
Production notes
Interactive menus
Language: English (stereo)
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Theatrical trailer
Talent and filmographies
Scene selections

Welcome to the Dollhouse

Format: DVD

Release Date: 08/03/1999

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen, 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, 2 PCM stereo

Runtime: 87 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 -- Widescreen
1. Start [1:49]
2. Dawn Wiener [2:07]
3. Troy [4:58]
4. Trapped by Lolita [1:55]
5. Detention [4:37]
6. "Sweet Candy" [2:04]
7. Dignity [:45]
8. Stranger Danger [2:38]
9. Dawn Meets Steve [5:38]
10. Ginger [1:55]
11. A Love-Struck Hostess [5:15]
12. "Welcome to the Dollhouse" [3:31]
13. 3 PM Warning [2:34]
14. Party Plans [3:25]
15. Love Among the Ruins [4:42]
16. Steve's Photos [3:03]
17. Cookie's Cookie [1:33]
18. "Lost in Your Eyes" [2:43]
19. "Happy Anniversary" [2:01]
20. Looking for Steve [1:52]
21. Tape Review [4:15]
22. A Note for Missy [3:06]
23. Breakfast With Police [2:09]
24. At Brandon's House [5:08]
25. "They Found Her Tutu." [1:48]
26. Sister Search [4:19]
27. Expressing Her Thanks [3:13]
28. "The Hummingbird Anthem" [4:06]
Side #2 -- Full Screen
1. Start [1:49]
2. Dawn Wiener [2:07]
3. Troy [4:58]
4. Trapped by Lolita [1:55]
5. Detention [4:37]
6. "Sweet Candy" [2:04]
7. Dignity [:45]
8. Stranger Danger [2:38]
9. Dawn Meets Steve [5:38]
10. Ginger [1:55]
11. A Love-Struck Hostess [5:15]
12. "Welcome to the Dollhouse" [3:31]
13. 3 PM Warning [2:34]
14. Party Plans [3:25]
15. Love Among the Ruins [4:42]
16. Steve's Photos [3:03]
17. Cookie's Cookie [1:33]
18. "Lost in Your Eyes" [2:43]
19. "Happy Anniversary" [2:01]
20. Looking for Steve [1:52]
21. Tape Review [4:15]
22. A Note for Missy [3:06]
23. Breakfast With Police [2:09]
24. At Brandon's House [5:08]
25. "They Found Her Tutu." [1:48]
26. Sister Search [4:19]
27. Expressing Her Thanks [3:13]
28. "The Hummingbird Anthem" [4:06]

Rebecca Flint Marx

One of the most honest films ever made about adolescence, Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse is a brutal, caustically hilarious ode to the seventh ring of hell that is the seventh grade. Solondz approaches his material as a survivor: in the character of Dawn Wiener, it is easy to see the director himself, the ostracized geek used as a bottom rung by his peers as they climbed the social ladder. But rather than use his position behind the camera to craft a redemptive tale of a spunky outcast who gets revenge on her tormenters, Solondz is more interested in bleak, mundane reality. Dawn (played to perfection by Heather Matarazzo) doesn't possess the subversive intelligence or creative inclinations that usually endear social misfits to an audience; if you removed her thick glasses, there wouldn't be a beautiful swan hiding underneath, just an awkward girl who can't see. Most tellingly, Dawn doesn't want revenge on her tormenters: she wants to be accepted by them. More than anything else, junior high is about survival. If Dawn can make it to the eighth grade, she's one year closer to escape; and, in the pockmarked scheme of puberty, escape is about all you can hope for. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Christina Vidal  Actor 
Will Lyman  Actor 
Eric Mabius  Actor 
Rica Martens  Actor 
Victoria Davis  Actor 
Stacey Moseley  Actor 
Todd Solondz  Director 
Todd Solondz  Producer 
Todd Solondz  Screenwriter 
Jill Wisoff  Composer (Music Score) 
Heather Matarazzo  Actor 
Daria Kalinina  Actor 
Matthew Faber  Actor 
Angela Pietropinto  Actor 
Bill Buell  Actor 
Brendan Sexton III  Actor 

Country: USA