Welcome to the dollhouse

by Todd Solondz

Welcome to the Dollhouse is a stark suburban comedy about eleven-year-old Dawn Wiener, a middle child in middle school in the middle of New Jersey. Sometimes hated, often reviled, seldom understood, Dawn tries in vain to put on a happy face as she struggles through the onset of what looks to be a long puberty. Life is generally grim, and sometimes it only gets grimmer. Nevertheless, she does find moments of grace amidst the humiliation of her first series of frustrated love affairs, and soon Dawn begins to wonder if life might not be better outside New Jersey.