Eleven-and-a-half-year-old Dawn Wiener is a shy, unattractive, unpopular seventh-grader living in a middle-class suburban community in New Jersey. Her older brother Mark is a nerdy high school student who plays clarinet in a garage band and shuns girls in order to prepare for college. Her younger sister Missy is a spoiled, manipulative little girl who pesters her and dances around the house in a tutu. Her mother Marj dotes on Missy and sides with her in disputes with Dawn. Her father Harv is a meek man who sides with Marj in arguments with Dawn. Dawn's only friend is an effeminate sixth-grade boy named Ralphy, with whom she shares a dilapidated clubhouse in her backyard. At school, Dawn is ridiculed and her locker is covered in graffiti. At home, Marj punishes her for calling Missy a "lesbo" and refusing to apologize. Her teacher unfairly keeps her after school after one of her bullies, Brandon McCarthy, tries to copy her answers on a test. Later, Dawn gets in trouble again when she accidentally hits another teacher in the eye with a spitball in self-defense when Brandon and his friends harass her during an assembly. Mark's band is joined by Steve Rodgers, a handsome and charismatic aspiring teenage rock musician who agrees to play in the band in exchange for Mark's help in school. Dawn decides to pursue him romantically when they spend time together, even though one of Steve's former girlfriends tells Dawn she has no chance of being with him. After Dawn calls Brandon a "retard" during a confrontation, he threatens her with rape. Brandon's first attempt to assault Dawn after school fails, but he orders her to meet him again over the phone. When she complies, he takes her to a junkyard, where he starts an earnest conversation with her and kisses her, sparing her of his initial intent. At dinner that night, when she refuses to tear down her clubhouse to make room for her parents' 20th anniversary party, Marj has Mark and Missy destroy it and gives them her share of a dessert. Dawn and Brandon spend time in her clubhouse and kiss again, but she confesses to him her feelings for Steve, causing him to storm out. Ralphy, who was spying on them, tries to comfort Dawn, but she angrily rejects him when he badmouths Brandon, leaving her with no friends. At the anniversary party, Dawn intends to proposition Steve, but gets cold feet upon seeing his new girlfriend and is rebuffed. Steve plays with Missy, who pushes Dawn into a kiddie pool. That night, the family watches a videotape of the party, laughing when Dawn falls into the water. After everyone has gone to bed, Dawn smashes the tape and briefly brandishes her hammer over Missy as she sleeps. Sometime later, Brandon is arrested and expelled from school for suspected drug dealing. Meanwhile, Harv's car breaks down and Marj has to pick him up. She instructs Dawn to tell Missy to get a ride home with her ballet teacher, but she chooses not to after arguing with Missy, who is kidnapped as a result. Dawn visits Brandon's home and meets his mentally challenged brother and abrasive father. She tells Brandon that she wants to be his girlfriend, but he tells her that he's running away to avoid being sent to a reformatory. After they kiss, he tells her to come with him, but she accuses him of drug dealing. Offended, he tells her that one of his friends deals drugs, not him, insulting her in the process. Regardless, he asks her if she's coming with, but she refuses and he leaves through his window without her. When Marj is informed that Missy's tutu was found in Times Square, Dawn goes to New York City to find her. After a whole night of searching, Dawn phones home and Mark tells her that Missy was found alive and well by police after being abducted by a pedophilic neighbor. Dawn returns to town and her classmates ridicule her as she makes a thank-you speech. Mark tells Dawn that she cannot expect school life to get any better until high school. On a field trip to Walt Disney World, Dawn sits among other girls from her choir and joins them in singing the school anthem.
Cast
Reception
The film was a surprise success, considering it was a relatively low budget, independently produced film. It garnered critical praise for its nail-biting view of a pre-teen outcast, and won the Grand Jury Prize for best dramatic feature at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. Critic Roger Ebert was vocal about his love for the film, giving it four stars out of four and placing it at No. 5 on his "Best of 1996" list. The film currently holds a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 51 reviews with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "An outstanding sophomore feature, Welcome to the Dollhouse sees writer-director Todd Solondz mining suburban teen angst for black, biting comedy." Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
