Monday, May 24, 2021

Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)

Dawn: I was fighting back. 
Mrs. Weiner: Who told you to fight back?
If you look back through our MNPP Archives you'll see that Todd Solondz's classic film, which premiered in the U.S. 25 years ago today, is by far the film I've used for my "Life Lessons" series more than any other. That's because this film taught me everything I know... or maybe rather everything I already knew? By the time I saw this in 1996 I'd already lived through The Dawn Weiner Junior High Experience, and Solondz & Co captured the essence of that particular horror show better than any other piece of art has ever come close. 10 years ago for the film's 15th anniversary I already did an entire day of posts in honor of the film that I titled "Special People Day" -- you can read that all here. It got weird!

Would we have it any other way, though? The film's weird and mean-spirited and aggressive and so honest it brutalizes. It's also one of the funniest films ever made, and alongside PJ Hogan's Muriel's Wedding -- which I have long considered a companion piece -- it's the film I've watched more times than any other in this life. I've hardly felt more seen on-screen then I did, terrifyingly, trapped inside the beautiful smothering amber of this movie's exquisite and perfect 90 minute runtime. Dawn Wiener forever.



3 comments:

Remy said...

"You think you're hot shit, but you're really just cold diarrhea." will stick with me forever.

Shawny said...

I use “Never be a grade grubber” in different forms a lot.

Astroboymn said...

100% yes to this post. And that goes 200% for tying Dollhouse to Muriel's Wedding. Yes yes yes.