Welcome to the Dollhouse (1996)

Well if you were ever in doubt about the fallacies of the "American dream" then you need look no further than the life of the young and rather unfortunately named "Dawn Wiener" (Heather Matarazzo). Her life with her geeky brother "Mark" (Matthew Faber) is comfortable enough, but her parents aren't really that interested in her and she is bullied at school by "Brandon" (Brendan Sexton). Her brother has a garage band and it's fronted by the dashing "Steve" (Eric Mabius) in whom she has an almighty crush. Of course she is too young to realise that were he to reciprocate in any way he'd be sent to jail! As so often happens with those who are picked on, she starts to pick on someone else - her little sister "Missy" (Daria Kalinina) and this earns her the annoyance of her family. Feeling adrift and rather abandoned, she begins to seek a bit of solace with her tormentor whilst never quite giving up on her older, would-be, beau - but what can come of any of this? Matarazzo does well here, offering us a gently honest interpretation of a child who is not unloved, just unnoticed. She presents us with a vulnerable character whom you would expect to spend her entire life overlooked, living in the same town for a life unhappily married to a local plumber. Sexton is also quite engaging as the outwardly aggressive and brutish character whom, as we get to know him, is actually not in a wildly dissimilar boat to "Dawn". It's got some soul to it and that, and a certain simplicity, makes for a plausible observation of a life destined to remain, at best, in the slow lane.