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Unfortunately her nerdy older brother Mark (Matthew Faber) is far too ineffectual to help in times of crisis, so Dawn is forced to endure the taunts of Brandon McCarthy (Brendan Sexton Jr) and his low-life cohorts. If Brandon isn't threatening her physically then he's trying to copy her work in class (not that Dawn's the school genius). The problem is that, as is generally the case, teachers such as Mrs. Grissom (Rica Martens) are unreceptive to Dawn's complaints. To compound the unfairness, they're just as likely to give Dawn a detention as any of the troublemakers. Out of this purgatory, the closest thing that Dawn has to a friend is Ralphy (Dimitri Iervolino), and that's only because he's similarly abused (his burden is to be known as the school "faggot").
Then, on one fateful day, it appears that Dawn's existence might be taking an up-turn. To make himself look good on college applications, Mark has started a band and cajoled the High School stud Steve Rodgers (Eric Mabius) into joining. The deal is that Mark will do his computer science homework if Steve will give the group some much-needed credibility. Well, to Dawn's fluctuating hormones, it seems that she's found a heart-throb in the apparently mature and caring Steve. However, while Dawn's trying to wriggle her way into being alone with Steve and wondering how to make herself attractive (a monumental task), the daily struggle continues. In her desire to be accepted, Dawn finds herself entering into a parallel relationship with Brandon that would give her dad (Bill Buell) a coronary, yet nothing is quite what it seems at first glance.
So often is Welcome to the Dollhouse right on the button with its tragically realistic tour of pre-teen isolation that it's difficult to know quite where to begin. For a start, this is one of the very few movies about kids that has the courage of its convictions and refuses to give in to a false but happy ending. Instead, the message is that the humiliation and fear of rejection that has been a staple of Junior High doesn't end there. The reality is that it never stops, it just becomes more subtle. The fortunate angle on this is that no one, least of all Dawn, comprehends the otherwise crushing situation. For them, hope springs eternal, which means that all Dawn has to deal with is the present and the amorphous feeling that everyone is against her (to the extent that whatever she does it's never good enough). The strange part of this is that parents and teachers never grasp this emotion, yet they too must have known its icy touch.
Central to Welcome to the Dollhouse is Matarazzo's debut performance, which goes way beyond outstanding. Instead of merely acting the part and mouthing the lines, Matarazzo becomes and represents Dawn in every way. From her hesitant slinking about the school corridors, confusion at being bullied and healthy obsession with sex to the set of her jaw when determined to prevail on some insignificant matter, Matarazzo's characterisation is exemplary. Around her are arrayed a spectrum of figures, all engaged in the dog-eat-dog behaviour that underlies much of society. Dawn's contemporaries are convincingly sketched, especially Brandon, such that they avoid becoming stereotypes even as they behave in an instantly recognisable fashion. On another level, adults are seen almost as alien beings, manipulative and not to be trusted (mainly because they fail to understand). Pietropinto and Buell fill this niche splendidly.
A further strength of Welcome to the Dollhouse is the banal overall tone, which suggests that what's happening isn't special or unique. Instead the abuse is everyday, something that not only happens to Dawn but a tool that she is perfectly willing to use herself (mainly against Missy and Ralphy). Such behaviour provides for a lot of unforced humour but in the way that events turn out, the laughs are uneasy and unsettling. The script is really too personal to be comical, more a stimulator of memory which makes you squirm with recognition. Ultimately, when the movie focuses on Dawn it gets to the heart of childish cruelty with breath-taking naturalness. The only time that Todd Solondz trips up is when he adds external and not fully resolved scenarios. Here Welcome to the Dollhouse takes an implausible stance which dilutes the script's raw power. However, these are only minor flaws in an outstanding treatise on pre-teen blues.
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