Welcome to the Dollhouse (R)
IMDb; Rotten Tomatoes; Sony Classics; TV Tropes; Wikipedia
streaming sites: Amazon; Fandango

This came out in 1996, and I think I first saw it in 1999. By the time I re-watched it in 2026, I didn't remember anything about it except that Heather Matarazzo played an outcast who the other kids called "Wiener-Dog". Anyway, now that I've seen it again, I must say that it was hard for me to rate. I considered not giving it a rating, which is something I sometimes do when I don't know how to rate a movie, for various reasons. I finally decided to rate it "rather liked", but honestly, there are movies I've given that rating that I think I enjoyed more than I did this one. On the other hand, it probably objectively deserves a higher rating. The whole movie is pretty cringe, in a good way... but it's hard for me to properly appreciate cringe stuff no matter how well it's done (with very rare exceptions). I should also mention that the movie is rated "R" just for language, and after watching it, I'd say it earned that rating. It's full of not only swearing, but various slurs that I won't repeat here. That's something it's also hard for me to appreciate, artistically, but it definitely fits the tone of this movie.

Anyway, Matarazzo's character is actually named Dawn Wiener. She's 11 years old, and has an older brother, Mark, and a younger sister, Missy. Their parents seem to favor Missy and Mark over Dawn, so her home life isn't ideal. Mark has a band, and early in the film, a classmate named Steve Rodgers joins as guitarist and singer. (One of the songs he sings is called "Welcome to the Dollhouse".) Dawn develops an immediate crush on him, and hopes he'll become her boyfriend, though he barely pays any attention to her, and has no idea how she feels about him. Meanwhile, her only friend is a boy named Ralphy, who is I guess a year behind her, and they have a clubhouse in the Wieners' yard, called the Special People Club. (This is one of the many things I found cringy about the movie, and I felt bad that Dawn didn't realize the implication of that name. It got even worse when she found out, near the end of the movie.) At school, everyone bullies Dawn, even her teacher. Her main bully is a boy named Brandon, who tells her a few different times that he's going to rape her. That never happens, but Dawn starts hanging out with him, in secret. And they sometimes kiss (consensually). And one day, Missy goes missing, and it is later discovered that she had been kidnapped. Dawn feels guilty about this, as she should, because it was her fault (though no one ever finds out it was hear fault).

And... plenty of other stuff happens, but I don't want to spoil any more details. I will say that throughout the movie, I felt bad for Dawn, because of how much her life sucks. But at the same time, she takes out her frustration on anyone she sees as, I guess, lower on the social ladder. Which is basically Missy and Ralphy. So she's not an entirely likable character, but I think I still liked her more than any other character in the movie. And as cringe as it all is, it's a well-made movie, which tells a relatable story. I feel like I should be able to better analyze the movie's merits, but I really can't. And I kind of envy people who are able to enjoy it more than I did. But I definitely did like it (more on the basis of quality storytelling than actual enjoyment).