Plot
Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo) is a shy, unattractive, unpopular 7th grader in a middle-class suburban community in New Jersey. Her older brother, Mark (Matthew Faber), is a nerdy, snooty high school student who plays clarinet in a garage band and shuns girls in order to prepare for college. Dawn's younger sister, Missy (Daria Kalinina), is a spoiled, manipulative little girl who pesters Dawn and dances happily in a tutu. Their mother (Angela Pietropinto) is a shrewish, overbearing woman who dotes on Missy and always sides with her in disputes with Dawn. Their father (Bill Buell) is a meek, selfish man who always sides with Dawn's mother. Dawn's only friend is an effeminate fifth-grade boy named Ralphy (Dimitri Iervolino), with whom she shares a dilapidated clubhouse in her backyard.
Dawn's life in junior high is miserable. Her classmates mercilessly ridicule her and cover her locker with derisive graffiti. After her cranky teacher unfairly keeps her after school, she is threatened with rape by a bully named Brandon McCarthy (Brendan Sexton, Jr.), who has almost as much trouble socializing as she does. Her attempts to take out her frustrations only get her into trouble: At home, her mother punishes her for calling Missy a lesbian and refusing to be nice to her; at school, she accidentally hits a teacher in the eye with a spitball. Brandon's first attempt to rape Dawn fails, but he orders her to meet him again. After she presents herself to him and he takes her to an abandoned field, he starts an earnest conversation and only kisses her, even though she is obviously willing. Meanwhile, Mark's band is joined by Steve Rodgers (Eric Mabius), a charismatic and handsome aspiring rock musician in exchange for Mark's help in computer science class. Dawn immediately falls for him, and she decides to pursue him romantically after he spends some time with her, even though one of his former girlfriends explained to her that she has no chance.
Dawn and Brandon continue to spend time together, bonding and forming an innocent romance. Brandon is expelled from school for suspected drug dealing and, after kissing Dawn, runs away to avoid being sent to military school. After angrily rejecting Ralphy, Dawn is left with no friends at all. Meanwhile, the next occasion of Dawn's embarrassment is a lawn party to celebrate her parents' wedding anniversary. When she refuses to tear down her clubhouse to make room for the party, her mother has Mark and Missy destroy it and gives them her share of a chocolate cake. At the party, Dawn intends to proposition Steve, but gets cold feet and is contemptuously rebutted. Steve plays with Missy, who pushes Dawn into a kiddie pool. That evening, the family watches a videotape of the party, laughing when Dawn falls into the water. Later that night, Dawn smashes the tape to pieces and briefly brandishes her hammer over Missy as she sleeps.
Dawn's ultimate disaster occurs when her father's car breaks down and her mother has to pick him up. Dawn is to tell Missy to find a ride home from ballet class while their mother is away. However, Missy argues with Dawn, who retaliates by not telling her, with the result being that Missy is kidnapped. When Missy's tutu is found in Times Square, Dawn goes to New York City hoping to find Missy. After a full day and night of searching fruitlessly for Missy, Dawn phones home to check up on what is going on and Mark tells her that Missy has been found by the police after she was abducted by a pedophile neighbor. Dawn returns home dejected and sees that her mother was too preoccupied with Missy's traumatic kidnapping ordeal to even notice Dawn's absence. After this, Dawn's classmates make fun of her as she gives a thank you speech in the assembly hall. Dawn is relieved that summer is now here and that her painful ordeal at school is over at least for the next three months. Afterwards, Dawn's mental state takes a further blow when Mark offers her no hope of a better life until high school, which according to him is not much better.
The final scene shows Dawn sitting anonymously among her other classmates on the school bus as she obediently joins other students singing the school anthem during the field trip to Florida as she sorrowfully looks out the bus window to ponder her uncertain future.
Read more about this topic: Welcome To The Dollhouse
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