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Movies like Welcome to the Dollhouse

Key Features:
Coming-of-age, Middle school, Social awkwardness, Suburban life, Family dynamics, Bullying, Outcast, Insecurity, Sibling rivalry, Dysfunctional family, Nudity-brief, Cruelty
Tone:
cynical, gritty, deadpan
Target Audience:
Indie film enthusiasts, Cynical viewers, Coming-of-age fans, Socially conscious
Emotional Arc:
Awkwardness → Humiliation

Welcome to the Dollhouse

1996-03-22
Welcome to the Dollhouse Poster - Find Similar Movies

An unattractive 7th grader struggles to cope with suburban life as the middle child with inattentive parents and bullies at school.

Genres
Comedy, Drama
Cast
Heather Matarazzo, Brendan Sexton III, Eric Mabius, Matthew Faber, Daria Kalinina, Angela Pietropinto, Bill Buell, Will Lyman, Rica Martens, Stacey Moseley
Crew
Todd Solondz, Todd Solondz
Rating
7.1(475 votes)
Welcome to the DollhouseWelcome to the Dollhouse
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Odd Girl Out
5.5

A mother and her daughter confront the intimidation of teen peer pressure and the emotionally brutalizing social rituals of high school.



SubUrbia
SubUrbia(1997)
6.2

A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.



Slums of Beverly Hills

In 1976, a lower-middle-class teenager struggles to cope living with her neurotic family of nomads on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.



Little Bitches
5.2

A group of friends vow to open their college acceptance letters at the same time during the big end-of -year party.



Eighth Grade
7.2

Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school — the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year — before she begins high school.



Shithouse
Shithouse(2020)
6.9

Lonely college freshman Alex has closed himself off from his peers, who all appear to have this whole "college thing" figured out. But everything changes one night when Alex takes a leap and attends a party at Shithouse - a legendary party fraternity - where he forges a strong connection with Maggie.



Pleasantville
7.259

Geeky teenager David and his popular twin sister, Jennifer, get sucked into the black-and-white world of a 1950s TV sitcom called "Pleasantville," and find a world where everything is peachy keen all the time. But when Jennifer's modern attitude disrupts Pleasantville's peaceful but boring routine, she literally brings color into its life.



Palindromes
6.2

Aviva is thirteen, awkward and sensitive. Her mother Joyce is warm and loving, as is her father, Steve, a regular guy who does have a fierce temper from time to time. The film revolves around her family, friends and neighbors.



Tiny Furniture
5.641

After graduating from film school, Aura returns to New York to live with her photographer mother, Siri, and her sister, Nadine, who has just finished high school. Aura is directionless and wonders where to go next in her career and her life. She takes a job in a restaurant and tries unsuccessfully to develop relationships with men, including Keith, a chef where she works, and cult Internet star Jed.



Little Sister
6.043

After returning to her childhood home, young nun Colleen finds her old room exactly how she left it: painted black and covered in goth and metal posters. Her parents are happy enough to see her, but her brother is living as a recluse in the guesthouse since returning home from the Iraq war.



Storytelling
6.5

College and high school serve as the backdrop for two stories about dysfunction and personal turmoil.



Little Boxes
6.1

It's the summer before 6th grade, and Clark is the new-in-town biracial kid in a sea of white. Discovering that to be cool he needs to act 'more black,' he fumbles to meet expectations, while his urban intellectual parents Mack and Gina also strive to adjust to small-town living. Equipped for the many inherent challenges of New York, the tight-knit family are ill prepared for the drastically different set of obstacles that their new community presents, and soon find themselves struggling to understand themselves and each other in this new suburban context.



Wildflower
7.463

The story of Bea Johnson from birth to graduation as she navigates life with an intellectually disabled parent and an extended family who can't quite agree on the best way to help.



Family
Family(2018)
6.5

Kate Stone is career-focused with a brash attitude that keeps relationships at an arm's length. When her estranged brother calls asking her to baby-sit her tween niece Maddie, Kate reluctantly agrees to help. But baby-sitting overnight unexpectedly turns into a week, and Kate's life spins into chaos. As Maddie reveals stories of being bullied and of wanting to run away and be a Juggalo, the two form a unique bond.



Incoming
Incoming(2024)
6.234

Their first week of high school. The biggest party of the year. Mistakes will be made as four teenage boys navigate a night of mayhem and debauchery.



Bird
Bird(2024)
7.237

12-year-old Bailey lives with her single dad Bug and brother Hunter in a squat in North Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time for his kids, and Bailey, who is approaching puberty, seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.



Cuties
Cuties(2020)
5.1

Amy, an 11-year-old girl, joins a group of dancers named “the cuties” at school, and rapidly grows aware of her burgeoning femininity—upsetting her mother and her values in the process.



Miss Impossible
5.413

They’re all nuts. Her parents, who want to send her off to boarding school. Her new teacher, who expects her to read impossibly old books. Her fellow band members, who make her sing ridiculous lyrics and dress her up in a frilly white dress for their first show. Everyone seems to know what she should do and how she should act. And it’s not like 13-year-old Aurore has any fundamental problem with changing herself either. Who would want to be like this: unhappy, ugly and emotionally withdrawn? But the others don’t seem all that much happier to her either. She definitely doesn’t ever want to be as old, rundown and lonely as her mother. And so she prefers to stay the way she is, to observe and make her biting comments on whatever comes her way.



Terri
Terri(2011)
6.325

Terri, a pajama-clad, disaffected high school student learns how to engage the world with the help of Mr. Fitzgerald, his assistant principal.



Bitch
Bitch(2017)
5.3

A woman snaps and assumes the psyche of a vicious dog as her checked-out, philandering husband attempts to keep the family together.



The New Kid
6.1

Benoît, the new kid at school, is bullied by a gang of arrogant boys. Determined not to be pushed around, Benoît organizes a big party, but only three students turn up. What if this bunch of losers was to be the best gang ever?



Lymelife
Lymelife(2008)
6.1

A coming of age dramedy where infidelity, real estate, and Lyme disease have two families falling apart on Long Island in the early eighties. Scott, 15, is at the point in his life when he finds out that the most important people around him, his father, his mother, and his brother, are not exactly who he thought they were. They are flawed and they are human.



Happy Christmas
5.088

After a breakup with her boyfriend, a young woman moves in with her older brother, his wife, and their 2-year-old son.



Garden Party
5.753

Are you young, sexually confused, just trying to get by? Do you sing, dance or possess some other talent? Welcome to the Garden Party. At the center of the story is 15-year-old April. She is running from one bad situation into another, hoping to find an answer that doesn't involve taking off her clothes.



The World of Us
7.5

A bullied girl becomes friends with a new kid during a break, but when classes start up again, their new friendship is nearly ruined when the bullying continues.



2:37
2:37(2006)
6.559

A contemporary, ensemble drama that tells the complex tale of six high school students whose lives are interwoven with situations that so many of today's youth are faced with. The story takes place during a normal school day. At precisely 2:37 a tragedy will occur, affecting the lives of a group of students and their teachers.



The Opposite of Sex

A 16-year-old girl visits her gay half-brother and ends up seducing his boyfriend, thus wreaking havoc on all of their lives.



Paperhouse
6.5

A young girl lost in the loneliness and boredom of reality finds solace in an ill boy, whom she can visit in a surreal dream world that she drew in her school composition book.



The Young Kieslowski

Grand romantic gestures need not apply in this comedic tale of star-crossed young love. Instead, freshman Brian Kieslowski displays endless reserves of bumbling awkwardness as he goes home with a girl for the first time... and then learns that he got her pregnant... with twins... all while she's going through a rather inconvenient Christianity phase. Could it be that being the good guy and doing what's right are two very different things?



Mini's First Time
5.5

Desperate to be free from her drunken, unloving mother Diane, the beautiful, scheming young Mini seduces her stepfather Martin and soon convinces him to join her in a sadistic scheme to have Diane declared insane. But their conspiracy soon escalates to murder and when John Garson, a young detective starts investigating, Martin and Mini begin to turn on each other.



Playground
7.029

When Nora witnesses Abel being bullied by other kids, she rushes to protect him by warning their father. But Abel forces her to remain silent. Caught in a conflict of loyalty, Nora will ultimately try to find her place, torn between children's and adult's worlds.



Henry Fool
6.582

An egocentric bum transforms the lives of a shy New Jersey garbageman and his sister.



The Vicious Kind
6.228

A man tries to warn his brother away from the new girlfriend he brings home during Thanksgiving, but ends up becoming infatuated with her in the process.



Welcome to Collinwood

Five hapless inner-city low-lifes attempt to burgle a pawnbroker's safe, but end up being plagued by bad luck.



Closet Monster
7.1

A creative and driven teenager is desperate to escape his hometown and the haunting memories of his turbulent childhood.



Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life

A quiet teenage artist Rafe Katchadorian has a wild imagination and is sick of middle school and the rules that have been put before him. Rafe and his best friend Leo have come up with a plan: break every rule in the school hand book and as you expect trouble follows.



Welcome to Me
5.809

A year in the life of Alice Klieg, a woman with Borderline personality disorder who wins the Mega Millions lottery, quits her meds and buys her own talk show.



Fitting In
6.672

A teenage girl gets diagnosed with a reproductive condition that upends her plans to have sex and propels her into exploring unusual methods to have a sex life, challenging her relationships with everyone in her life, but most importantly, herself.



Adult Beginners
5.4

A young, hipster entrepreneur crashes and burns on the eve of his company’s big launch. With his entire life in disarray, he leaves Manhattan to move in with his estranged pregnant sister, brother-in-law and three year-old nephew in the suburbs — only to become their manny. Faced with real responsibility, he may finally have to grow up — but not without some bad behavior first.



Clownhouse
6.099

Three teenage brothers are terrorized by a trio of escaped mental patients disguised as clowns.



The Half of It
7.1

Shy, straight-A student Ellie is hired by sweet but inarticulate jock Paul, who needs help wooing the most popular girl in school. But their new and unlikely friendship gets tricky when Ellie discovers she has feelings for the same girl.



mid90s
mid90s(2018)
7.5

In 1990s Los Angeles, a 13-year-old spends his summer navigating between a troubled home life and a crew of new friends he meets at a skate shop.



Accidents Happen
5.9

There are dysfunctional families... and then there are the Conways. After a family tragedy, 15-year-old Billy Conway has become the de facto glue between his bitter mom, distant brother, and stoic dad. But when Billy starts to act out, everything changes for him and his family



My Little Monster
7.535

Problem student Haru Yoshida sits next to the cold and studious Shizuku Mizutani in class. Without any other friends to turn to, both of them start to get to know each other and grow closer. Haru eventually develop feelings for Shizuku and confesses his feelings to her. Will Haru and Shizuku get their happily ever after?



Tall Girl
Tall Girl(2019)
6.3

Jodi, the tallest girl in her high school, has always felt uncomfortable in her own skin. But after years of slouching, being made fun of, and avoiding attention at all costs, Jodi finally decides to find the confidence to stand tall.



Welcome the Stranger
5.104

Alice arrives unannounced at her estranged brother Ethan's house in an attempt to reconcile, but bizarre visions, the return of his strange girlfriend and Alice's paranoia and suspicion force the siblings to cling onto reality amidst mysterious circumstances.



Birds of America
5.4

A regular guy struggles with a repressive home and professional life, as well as making amends for the trouble his free-spirited brother and sister cause about town.



The Girl Next Door
6.638

In a quiet suburban town in the summer of 1958, two recently orphaned sisters are placed in the care of their mentally unstable Aunt Ruth. But Ruth's depraved sense of discipline will soon lead to unspeakable acts of abuse and torture that involve her young sons, the neighborhood children, and one 12-year-old boy whose life will be changed forever.



Rocket Science
6.2

Hal is a 15-year-old high-school student with a minor yet socially alienating (and painful) disability: he stutters uncontrollably. Determined to work through the problem, Hal opts for an extreme route – he joins the school debating team, which sends him on a headfirst plunge into breakneck speech competitions and offers a much-needed boost toward correcting the problem.



The Clique
5.902

A young girl tries to fit in with a clique of popular middle school girls after moving into the guest house of one of their homes.



Carrie
Carrie(2002)
6.1

An awkward, telekinetic teenage girl's lonely life is dominated by relentless bullying at school and an oppressive religious fanatic mother at home. When her tormentors pull a humiliating prank at the senior prom, she unleashes a horrifying chaos on everyone, leaving nothing but destruction in her wake.



Confessions of an Invisible Girl

When the clever but socially-awkward Tetê joins a new school, she'll do anything to fit in. But the queen bee among her classmates has other ideas.



Back to School
5.375

Two adults go to their middle school reunion in order to show off their success to old bullies teenage crushes.



Sweetie
Sweetie(1989)
6.005

The buttoned-down, superstitious Kay is attempting to lead a normal existence with her new boyfriend Louis. That’s until Sweetie, her rampaging, devil-may-care sister, returns home after an absence, exposing the rotten roots of their family and placing a strain on Kay and Louis’ relationship.



Permanent
Permanent(2017)
5.209

This comedy, set in 1983 in small town Virginia, centers around a 13 year old and her family. The story of a hairstyle gone incredibly wrong and a young girl's plight to fit in while encountering bullies at a new school.



Mean Girls 2
5.3

Confident senior Jo begins the new school year by breaking her own cardinal rule: don't get involved in girl drama. but when she sees timid Abby preyed upon by Queen Bee Mandi and her minions, she takes sides in a viciously funny girl-world-war that turns North Shore High School upside down.



Brainstorm
7.9

Neto is a middle class teenager living a normal life. After his father finds a marijuana cigarette on his pocket, he is sent to a mental institution, where he gets to know a completely absurd and inhumane reality in which people are devoured by a corrupt and cruel system.



A Cinderella Story
6.6

Routinely exploited by her wicked stepmother, the downtrodden Samantha Montgomery is excited about the prospect of meeting her Internet beau at the school's Halloween dance.



Welcome to Hartmanns
6.359

The Hartmann family is turned upside down when mother Angelika decides to take in the refugee Diallo, against her husband's will. Amidst the typical chaos of our time, hope remains that the family finds its stability, confidence and peace again - just like the whole country.



Quints
Quints(2000)
5.523

A teenager goes to desperate lengths to get attention when her mother gives birth to quints.



Stargirl
Stargirl(2020)
7.4

An unassuming high schooler finds himself inexplicably drawn to the free-spirited new girl, whose unconventional ways change how they see themselves…and their world.



#Horror
#Horror(2015)
3.557

Inspired by actual events, a group of 12 year old girls face a night of horror when the compulsive addiction of an online social media game turns a moment of cyber bullying into a night of insanity.



Happiness
Happiness(1998)
7.4

The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.



Mistress America
6.5

A college freshman cures her disappointment and loneliness by allowing herself to be pulled into the wacky schemes of her future stepsister.



Monster House
6.697

Monsters under the bed are scary enough, but what happens when an entire house is out to get you? Three teens aim to find out when they go up against a decrepit neighboring home and unlock its frightening secrets.



Society
Society(1989)
6.7

Bill Whitney is worried that he is different to his sister and parents. They mix with other upper-class people while Bill is more down to earth. Even his girlfriend seems a bit odd. All is revealed when Bill returns home to find a party in full swing.



Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

When her family moves from New York City to New Jersey, an 11-year-old girl navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.



Little Women
7.9

Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.



Looks That Kill
6.9

A teenager lives out the hilarious and often tragic consequences of being lethally attractive, until he meets a girl with a congenital defect.



The Savages
6.875

A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.



Funny Pages
5.656

A teenage cartoonist rejects the comforts of his suburban life in a misguided quest for soul.



Ken Park
Ken Park(2003)
6.012

Ken Park focuses on several teenagers and their tormented home lives. Shawn seems to be the most conventional. Tate is brimming with psychotic rage; Claude is habitually harassed by his brutish father and coddled, rather uncomfortably, by his enormously pregnant mother. Peaches looks after her devoutly religious father, but yearns for freedom. They're all rather tight, or so they claim.



Little Men
6.476

Jake is a quiet, sensitive middle schooler with dreams of being an artist. He meets the affably brash Tony at his grandfather's funeral, and the unlikely pair soon hit it off. The budding friendship is put at risk, however, when a rent dispute between Jake's father, Brian, and Tony's mother, Leonor, threatens to become contentious.



Mom and Dad
5.402

In a suburban community, moms and dads, one after the other, mysteriously feel the irresistible impulse to attack and kill their own offspring.



Sex Ed
Sex Ed(2014)
5.296

Eddie lands his first teaching gig at an inner city middle school and finds his highly pubescent pupils are receiving no form of sexual education. Eddie isn't really equipped to teach them...he's not exactly experienced romantically.



Diary of a Wimpy Kid
6.256

Greg Heffley is headed for big things, but first he has to survive the scariest, most humiliating experience of any kid’s life – middle school! That won’t be easy, considering he’s surrounded by hairy-freckled morons, wedgie-loving bullies and a moldy slice of cheese with nuclear cooties!



The Other Sister
6.3

A mentally challenged girl proves herself to be every bit as capable as her "perfect" sister when she moves into an apartment and begins going to college.



Sitcom
Sitcom(1998)
6.38

The adventures of an upper-class suburban family abruptly confronted with the younger brother's discovery of his homosexuality, the elder sister's suicide attempt and sadomasochist tendencies, and the intrusion of a very free-spirited maid and her husband. And it all started with the arrival in the family of an innocent looking rat.



Welcome to the Club
6.361

Heart set on becoming a princess, Lisa Simpson is surprised to learn being bad might be more fun.



Daydream Nation
5.747

Forced to move to a boring backwater town, a teenager embarks on affairs with a teacher and a stoner classmate.



Little Women
7.3

With their father away as a chaplain in the Civil War, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy grow up with their mother in somewhat reduced circumstances. They are a close family who inevitably have their squabbles and tragedies. But the bond holds even when, later, male friends start to become a part of the household.



The Last American Virgin

The friendship of a group of young friends struggling with teen sex, drugs, and work is jeopardized by a romantic interest which may turn pals into bitter rivals.



It
It(2017)
7.238

In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.



Our Little Sister
7.6

After the death of their estranged father, 3 adult sisters invite their teenaged half-sister to live with them.



The First Time
6.99

A spark of attraction smolders, then ignites, between two teens from different high schools who meet by chance at a party.



Little Darlings
6.5

Two 15-year-old girls from different sides of the tracks compete to see who will be first to lose their virginity while at camp.



Joshua
Joshua(2007)
5.641

The arrival of a newborn girl causes the gradual disintegration of the Cairn family; particularly for 9-year-old Joshua, an eccentric boy whose proper upbringing and refined tastes both take a sinister turn.



Little Vera
6

Vera is a troubled teenager fresh out of school feeling trapped in her provincial port town during the turbulent times of perestroika. Her days and nights are filled with drinking, sex, and family dysfunction.



Feed
Feed(2017)
6.9

Olivia and Matthew Grey, 18-year-old twins born into a world of privilege and high expectations. There are almost no boundaries between them - even their dreams are connected.



The United States of Leland

A withdrawn young man, Leland Fitzgerald is imprisoned for the murder of a mentally disabled boy, who also happened to be the brother of his girlfriend, Becky. As the community struggles to deal with the killing, Pearl Madison, a teacher at the prison, decides to write about Leland's case. Meanwhile, others affected by the murder, including Becky and her sister, Julie, must contend with their own problems.



Adult World
6.041

Amy, a naive college graduate who believes she's destined to be a great poet, begrudgingly accepts a job at a sex shop while she pursues a mentorship with reclusive writer Rat Billings.



Kids
Kids(1995)
6.9

A day in the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking and deflowering virgins.



I Saw the TV Glow
6.064

Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate Maddy introduces him to a mysterious TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.



Parents
Parents(1989)
5.88

Michael is a young boy living in a typical 1950s suburbanite home... except for his bizarre and horrific nightmares, and continued unease around his parents. Young Michael begins to suspect his parents are cooking more than just hamburgers on the grill outside, but has trouble explaining his fears to his new-found friend Sheila, or the school's social worker.



Junior
Junior(2011)
6.5

A pimple-faced 13-year-old tomboy starts morphing in bizarre ways after catching stomach flu.



Lovely & Amazing

An intimate family portrait of four hapless but resilient women and the bittersweet lessons they learn in keeping up with the hectic demands of their individual neuroses. Each of the women seeks redemption in her own haphazard way, but whatever salvation they find is illusory and short-lived.



Dogtooth
Dogtooth(2009)
7.1

Three teenagers are confined to an isolated country estate that could very well be on another planet. The trio spend their days listening to endless homemade tapes that teach them a whole new vocabulary. Any word that comes from beyond their family abode is instantly assigned a new meaning. Hence 'the sea' refers to a large armchair and 'zombies' are little yellow flowers. Having invented a brother whom they claim to have ostracized for his disobedience, the uber-controlling parents terrorize their offspring into submission.



There's Someone Inside Your House

As the countdown to graduation begins, students at Osborne High are being stalked by a maniac intent on exposing their darkest secrets to the entire town, terrorizing victims while wearing a life-like mask of their own face. With a mysterious past of her own, Makani and her friends must discover the killer's identity before they become victims themselves.



I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore

When a depressed woman is burglarized, she finds a new sense of purpose by tracking down the thieves alongside her obnoxious neighbor. But they soon find themselves dangerously out of their depth against a pack of degenerate criminals.

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