Welcome to the Dollhouse

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I love this movie! I felt that when I was in Jr. High, my classmates treated me a lot like Donna, the main character's. Even though my parents were better, I felt that the way the main character was treated at school wasn't too much of an exaggeration of what really goes on with outcasted Jr. High kids.
For those of you who have seen the movie, what did you guys think of the characters? And/or how much can you relate to any of them?

That movie reminded me of 6th grade and poor Dawn was bullied. I hated her family too. Not her siblings, her parents. Forcing her to grow up and it angered me how they wanted her to tear down her playhouse. I also assume she wasn't allowed to sleep with a stuffed animal because Dawn tells her little sister in her sleep who was cuddled with her stuffed animal, "You're so lucky."


Forcing kids to grow up quick is a good way to make them become adult babies when they grow up and possibly like diapers. They want to relive their childhood again and feel safe and secured.


I'm just glad my parents didn't force me to grow up. They let me mature at my own pace.

I actually hated this movie. I just thought it was hard to find anybody likable. I felt the same way about Ghost World which is by the same guy I think. Maybe if they weren't billed as comedies I might have been more receptive to them. All I saw was emotionally abused people dealing with their pain by emotionally abusing others weaker than them. Comedy? Nah. I could almost say the same thing about Little Voice if her voice wasn't so amazing.

Nah, Ghost World is a similar movie, but not by the same guy. Todd Solondz did Dollhouse (and only a few others, 'Happiness' comes to mind which is a similar dark comedy that looks at the twisted side of life).
It is definitely something that i've found people either love or hate, there is rarely any middle ground. I like him a lot, isnt as afraid as his contemporaries to deal with messed up situations.

Maybe they hit too close to the malaise I felt for most of my life. There are dark comedies I like. I just can't think of any right now. Oh! Punch Drunk Love.

I remember renting this movie at the same time I rented Monty Python: The Holy Grail.
I had to decide which movie to sit and watch with my sister, and I chose Welcome to the Dollhouse. Oops.
That's not to say I didn't know what to expect, because I knew it would be dark.
I thought it was a good movie, and probably better than Happiness, which was more highly acclaimed.
I used to like watching those sorts of films, but these days I just don't particularly need to see that misanthropic stuff anymore.