SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

MisterWhiplash I find it interesting that this is classified as a 'comedy' under genre. There may be a line or two that sticks out as being humorous in possibly some dark-ironic way, but this is not a comedy. This is about as tragic a story as you can get, and it's the kind of movie that I know is (mostly, with a few flaws I'll get to ) a tremendous, absorbing character study, but not something that I'll ever want to revisit. It's an extremely well made look at what it's like to be a relatively OK person being kicked in the genital area for 90 minutes.Heather Matarrazo is Dawn Weiner, 7th grader who is, to put it lightly, picked on by other students. But it's not only bullies - she is the quintessential 'middle child', so it's not just students, her own family either often acts like she doesn't exist (I almost typed in 'it' instead of 'she', like she's a pronoun), or that she's often in trouble or being a brat (notice a scene where she refuses to tear down her "Special Clubhouse" and the mother cuts up a piece of chocolate cake for others at the table). Basically her life is a hell to the point where she has one friend at the club house, and outside of this a) has a, uh, "gentleman caller" in the form of a white trash would-be rapist (Brendan Sexton is excellent in this role, for what it requires anyway), and her actual crush as a high-schooler who sings (sometimes) in her brother's band.To say it's a jaundiced take on suburban angst and alienation is to almost affront people who are born jaundiced. Dollhouse puts its protagonist so through the wringer it's a wonder that she doesn't find a gun and shoot up the school by the end of it all. The problem with that potential problem solver - no, really, in the world of Solondz's brutal and awful New Jersey town, it would almost do the world a favor - is that Dawn isn't nuts, just put down upon to the point of barely being recognizable. I wondered at points if the movie was like a big test for empathy: can you find yourself in Dawn's shoes(?) Most of us have been picked upon (see Christmas Story and we usually know what Ralphie is feeling, not the other way around), but to this extent? This is a truly compelling, morbid saga of life in middle school, which, as I recall, is generally one of the more brutal parts to endure in a lifetime, and it's practically as if we can see the hormones erupting inside of Dawn's brain; she's still a girl, but she can see the adults around her, or just the hunky Steve Rogers (I doubt it's any tip of the hat to Marvel by Solondz by the way, it's coincidence), and know that change is happening. All of the details that mount in this story are grounded in some sort of reality, even if it's one where everyone seems unfair and unable to see actual problems happening to someone like Dawn, and because of this the pain that one feels (or I felt) is excruciating. Matarazzo is so good in the role that it's hard to see her as anything else, and the cast are basically unknowns so it's more like we're there than in Solondz's two follow-ups, Happiness and Storytelling, where at least there were recognizable faces to go with the anguish and cruelty.If there is a flaw that keeps it from being a totally great (if depressing) indie success, it's that when a turn comes in the story that is very dramatic, involving the youngest daughter being kidnapped, it's both rather random to add some conflict, and b) it ultimately doesn't change much to the story. That latter point may have been Solondz's point, that such a harrowing development is there but is undercut by Dawn still being invisible to all around her (she could run away, but that is drastic even for her). However it doesn't fit the rest of the tone of the movie, as it's meant to be a big deal, and it happens and then the movie... ends. I am fine with it being a scenario where, for Dawn and her family and (indeed) the whole school, go through some things, don't learn any lessons, and life goes on as usual - as it is in the real world generally speaking - but that one story turn feels inorganic.I feel so critical of that because the rest of the film is so powerful, and Solondz's script is so sharp and yet doesn't leave its grip on the moral standing here: no crying, no lessons. In that sense it's the same storytelling philosophy of the show Seinfeld, only here the characters, generally speaking, are much more so unlikable and ridiculously ruthless, from the bullies of varying degrees to Dawn's own mother and Brendan, that you can barely breathe.

sharky_55 Many similar Dawn Weiners of the past will empathise with what Todd Solondz channels in Welcome to the Dollhouse. That terror-stricken walk in the cafeteria, clutching lunch tray and desperately trying to find a place to fit in is a cliché because it rings true - belonging is a see-sawing struggle in junior high. It's a pity because despite the intentions of Solondz to find a delicate balance and sensibility of the 11 year old girl who feels the whole world is against her, it becomes less a dark comedy and more a over-the-top caricature with a mean streak behind it. Overloading the main character with woe after woe and a barrage of insults and dumb luck is just as boring and uninspiring as the character whom has nothing go wrong for them. To signal her complete underdog status, the big-nosed Heather Matarazzo is cast, but that's not enough, we have to stick spectacles on her face too. Nerd, the bullies might jeer. And there are so, so many of them. An entire assembly chants insults in a tender moment. She is branded a lesbo almost immediately by the usual mean cheerleaders. Her parents flat out hate her, and hide this behind big, fake smiles. Even her little sister is some conniving little evil genius, undermining her in the background then putting on a angelic, beaming look of love. Ugh. It is to no surprise that its best moments are the ones that surprise Dawn, and the ones that are low key. In these brief scenes Slondz shows an actually understanding of the 11 year old besides a potty mouthed bully. Brandon lashes out in anger at her, and tells her to not be late for her 'rape', but at this age it is suggested that he does possess that kind of malice, nevertheless know what rape is. So he tries to get out of it, but still maintain his outward persona - oh you might be late to get home, so I won't rape you just yet. These are just kids, and they barely understand sexuality, but can feel it blossoming in spades and tug at their heartstrings. There's a certain sweetness in the way Dawn fawns over the older, handsomer version of Brandon, Steve, and how she attempts to impress him by feeding him jello and playing a piano piece. And Mark may the only family member who does not treat Dawn like a little pest; there's no malice or intent to intimidate as he tells his little sister that high school is just more of the same. He simply presents it as a fact of life. For all its mess, the ending is a quiet, unassuming one - there's no moment of inspired change, no resolve to fight back, but just an acceptance that things will go on their way. Unfortunately these moments of quiet contemplation are far and few. Solondz throws challenge after challenge at young Dawn; to the point that any 11 year old would collapse and rage, and then expects her to behave, to take it on the chin, to put down the hammer, because its just another day in the life of kid. Paradoxically he expects the subject matter to be taken seriously - for abuse, for drugs, for kidnappings to ring hard and true. But they don't, they hide behind a layer of comedy. Oh, he was just videotaping her doing pirouettes. The movie is funny, of course. But it goes beyond and above until it becomes absurdly dark and it becomes uncomfortable to laugh. The sneering Lolita, wearing a choker and a nasty glare, traps Dawn and waits for her to sh*t right there in the moment. The dialogue is filled to the brim with uncharacteristic profanity, as if Solondz wants to be hard hitting and genuine. "I didn't mean to be a c*nt", murmurs Dawn. This is supposed to be a sweet, subverted moment of naivety for her, a genuine instance of her attempting to act older than her age suggests. But it seems so facile.

tieman64 Like Woody Allen, Todd Solondz spends his time poking fun at man's foibles, whilst perhaps simultaneously wishing he weren't part of the very social fabric he condemns. It's your classic ego trap: "I'm better and above you, but worthless and wish I were with you." Solondz made "Fear, Anxiety and Depression" in 1989. He wrote and directed that film and, like Woody Allen, also cast himself as the film's neurotic hero. Like Allen's alter ego in "Annie Hall", the geeky looking Solondz spent the entire film bumbling about, venting his various dissaffections.Solondz was never happy with "Fear", however, and promptly disowned the film when his producers re-edited it behind his back. Burnt by the film industry, Solondz slipped into depression. He withdrew into isolation and became a teacher and writer. During these years his approach to art changed drastically. His screenplays became more formal, more precise, more caustic, and his visual style became cold. Ice cold.Solondz's first film when he emerged from his depression was "Welcome to the Dollhouse". Drawing upon his own unhappy school years, "Dollhouse" is about Dawn Weiner, a girl whom the universe seems to have condemned. More sinister than similar teen movies, "Dollhouse's" Dawn is so insecure she's happy to let a kid at school rape her if it means validating her own self worth. This would be rapist is himself marginalized, insecure and so reliant on sexual threats for self validation. Dawn is so filled with rage she even saws off the heads of her sister's dolls, fantasises about bashing people with a hammer and deliberately causes her sibling to be kidnapped by a local paedophile. Meanwhile, all the abuses people hurl at the geeky Dawn, Dawn hurls down at her little sister, a girl whom she unfairly despises. The result is that Dawn is shown to be capable of the same kind of brutality that she's subjected to. Social bullying is internalised, becomes self-hatred, and is then redirected violently back out at others."Dollhouse" was a cosy film compared to Solondz's next three flicks. In "Happiness" he portrays a web of characters, all of whom harbour different problems and neuroses, and all of whom are linked by their desire for absolute contentment. And so we have a paedophile who is only happy around kids, a successful writer who is only happy if she writes something of substance, a musician (who ironically writes songs of substance) who can't find success and is so discontent, an elderly couple who no longer have the will to live, a fat man who fantasises about raping women, a fat woman who is disgusted by sex and a dopey housewife who is blissfully unaware of the disturbing truths that exist beneath her sweet suburban facade. Forget "American Beauty" and "Blue Velvet". Solondz ends his film with a Norman Rockwell kid ejaculating on his front balcony. Solondz's point is almost classically psychoanalytic: Lack breeds Desire breeds Suffering. Peel away the emotional baggage and happiness is a stain that oft amounts to nothing more than a fleeting moment of biological bliss."Happiness" doesn't broadening its horizons to tackle the wider social and structural issues that better directors align to their existential musings, but it does offer more than Sam Mendes' "American Beauty". Indeed, Solondz's next film, "Storytelling", seemed designed to address those critics who pointed out the similarities between "Happiness" and "American Beauty". Mendes has himself slammed Solondz on numerous occasions, and so perhaps "Storytelling" is best viewed as a sort of intellectual assault on Solondz's critics."Storytelling" is divided into two segments, the first called "fiction" the second called "non-fiction". "Fiction" is about a creative writing student who has "sympathy sex" with a mentally disabled kid and later lets her African American teacher "rape" her. She then turns her experiences into a work of fiction which purports to be "truthfully" based on these factual encounters."Storytelling's" second segment then focuses on a documentary director who makes a documentary called "American Scooby" (a parody of "American Beauty") in which he follows a high school student around campus. The documentary director hopes to uncover the "truth" of growing up in suburbia, but in reality is merely transposing his own "deep thoughts", self-analysis and existential hang-ups onto a modern teen who is actually a dopey airhead. The end result is that film-maker and child enter a sort of exploitative relationship. The kid gets fame and is portrayed as being "deeper" than he is, while the film-maker gets prestige for nothing. End result: Solondz essentially advocates the sort of "truthful" sensationalism present in the non-fiction segment of the film, whilst aligning human delusions (love, romantic illusions, family etc) with the fictions of the second half. Other themes abound - the power games and domination/exploitatin reversals of "Dollhouse" are reworked here with subplots about a vengeful maid and a black teacher - but it's the "American Beauty" angle that's most interesting."Palindromes" is thus far the weakest of Solondz's films. The first and last words in the movie are "Mom", a pair of palindromes through which Solondz implies that "nothing ever changes". Indeed, Solondz makes the film a palindrome at every level, his Schopenhaueran point being that we are paradoxically always changing and never changing (hence different actors play the same character), every desire and addiction merely supplanting another. It's an extremely bleak film, depending how much trust the audience puts in its final monologue. This bleakness has led to critics labelling Solondz a misanthrope, but he's no more colder than both Allen and the Coens, two other contemporary critical darlings who've spent their careers reworking similar material.7.9/10 – "Welcome to the Dollhouse", "Palindromes" 8/10 – "Storytelling", "Happiness"

annevejb A prime quality that the DVD had for me was a price much higher than I usually can pay. Used to be that when I browsed IMDb details I sometimes looked at the tag at the top that showed availability in the different Amazon countries, availability as disk or tape or whatever. Way back then I purchased from local low cost shops, but it was interesting to browse. Then I progressed to purchases from the local, UK, Amazon but only for what I could pay for by cheque. Then I got to be able to pay electronically and it was suddenly possible to purchase low cost disks from second hand sources in the UK, Germany, USA and Canada, etc, via Amazon UK. The disk availability box at the top of an IMDb page was starting to have potential for real value, though I tended to search just in Amazon UK. Some of the really interesting disks were not available, some needed access to paying to a different country's Amazon, especially for low cost disks, but this was a massive start for being able to search for disks by title rather than from the more restricted range of what was available locally. Locally is still really useful, but it is more a serendipity sort of thing. Then the IMDb system changed. The disk availability button was not there. Then it was there but not showing the range of countries or versions of disks, if UK Amazon had the title in a variety of versions then either only one would be shown or an Amazon USA version would be shown. So, there was a basic indicator of availability, which is useful knowledge, just the way of searching the different stores was gone and at August 2009 this was still gone. So things were okay and unless an Amazon other than UK became the sole outlet for such as The Adventures Of Pete And Pete Season 3, some have a hunger for that Trachtenberg series, then things were tolerable. What happened instead was that Amazon USA became the sole outlet for Unfabulous Seasons 1 and 2. Also Zoey 101 seasons 3 and 4. While the prices are nothing like my ideal it was suddenly essential for me to get a payment method that Amazon USA accepts and in August 2009 I managed. Dollhouse. When I got to make my first order there was a copy of this at USA at a much lower price than I had ever noticed at Amazon UK or any other outlet. Except that order failed, it was not available for a delivery address in the UK. Two other items went through, though. It looks as if some traders are able to export, but not others. Later experiences told me that I still have a problem re availability of difficult to find titles. The outlook can seem bleak. The stuff that I had been noticing will mostly have not been available for export. * Dollhouse is from the year when season 3 of Pete, Pete appears and is a couple of years after Heather Matarazzo appeared in an episode of each of seasons 0 and 1. It is weaker than Pete, but in some ways it is as strong. I find that it echoes My Girl and Tideland, but from a different culture and in a more down to earth way. All have the main actor as of an appropriate age, scary but sense when musing on these sort of aspects. Dollhouse is bound to feel offensive to some who can accept My Girl. To me it has a reality that I can relate to more than with My Girl, though both stories are alien at the same time. Napoleon Dynamite, about a different age range and a different subset of symptoms, I now have to wonder how those characters would appear if that story was set at age eleven. Mysterious Skin and The Quiet expand on the range of faces of this. I found Dollhouse difficult to get into, but I vastly prefer this to Princess Diaries as that falls flat for me as soon as Mia gets the makeover, the point where one is supposed to gain empathy with Mia? Much is said of Dollhouse being a story about the difficulties that an ugly girl can face at age 12, but watch this with any care at all and it is obvious that this is a rather nice looking girl who is badly damaged by the ugly ways of those around her. One needs the right sort of helps to be able to get around that sort of thing and this story makes a loud comment about how real those helps can be. I have to like this feature a lot. The message board hints of some considering the three bad boys to be pure criminal types, but the strongest hint put in a criminal way. For me, Dollhouse gives a context that puts such into perspective. What this shows of their back to front reality, criminal seems an inappropriate label. That is the real strength of this feature. This is not about the apex of the pyramid of society, it shows a dunghill. Dawn comes out with some really putrid behaviour and there are some reviews here that consider that to be a reflection of her personality. To me, she is just showing some effects that can happen when one is blowing in the wind, chaff that does not have enough free will to escape being blown in that way. Rather than Dawn being horror I consider that she is blown into a horrifying and damaging situation, but one has had to have been in that sort of situation oneself to accept that is an aspect of her being a victim of horror.