Review of Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996) by Kylie P — 10 Apr 2009

The story of Welcome to the Dollhouse is about the growing pains of growing up, and each heart-wrenchingly desperate decision of Dawn's, whether based in pure emotional reaction or on an attempt to conform to what she perceives is "normal," rings true, even when Dawn herself sometimes makes you want to throttle her for her actions stemming from an unadulterated lack of common sense. The film also never takes the easy way out â?? the cause of her social ineptitude is not necessarily her parents, like The Breakfast Club would want you to believe, and it's not her economic status, like Pretty in Pink portrayed. Dawn is no Molly Ringwald or Ally Sheedy. Dawn is simply Dawn, a flawed character, who strives toward a sense of normality and tries too hard in the process.

Heather Matarazzo delivers a mature, powerful, and sincere performance as Dawn, and it was a far more interesting role than some of her later characters, such as her sidekick turn in The Princess Diaries. She inhabited this role in a way that pierced the heart, and if it weren't for her, the film would have faltered and floundered by its conclusion. The acting by the supporting players was passable to good, but the lynch pin of Welcome to the Dollhouse is how resonant Dawn's experiences are to the viewer's memory, and Matarazzo portrayed Dawn's misguidedness and vulnerability in a way that effortlessly invited that connection.

The pacing of the film loses consistency when Missy gets kidnapped, quite possibly due to Dawn's spiteful neglect in passing a message to her sister from her mother. Never mind that it's somewhat odd that Dawn seems to feel absolutely no guilt about her role in the situation-even when she decides to find Missy in New York, she dreams of her mother's adoration at locating her lost pet rather than showing remorse--but what is strange is that in this moment, the film slows to an inexplicable crawl as the film's final quarter elapses toward its conclusion. The abrupt conclusion seems out of sync with the slowed pacing preceding it and the way the film unfolded throughout. In fact, the story took an odd turn that did not seem to gel with the rest of the film (except for Dawn's impassioned pleas to her bully suitor), and then, when Dawn appears to learn some unexplained lesson and resumes her belabored journey toward adulthood, the film simply ends. While the abrupt ending felt oddly satisfying, in that it was true to Dawn's particular idiom, it also felt like whiplash compared to the preceding 20 minutes. Still, the film certainly makes you rethink that time in your life when being a human could be overwhelming.