Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo) is the awkward middle child and social outcast 7th grader. She's got the hated nickname Wienerdog. Girls call her lesbo. Not even the other outcasts like her. The teachers find her annoying. Her parents ignore her. Her mother favors the youngest adorable Missy. Her older brother Mark is a nerd but he's a driven nerd. He gets the popular hunk Steve Rodgers to join his band and she's completely infatuated. Everybody picks on her especially class bully Brandon. She has the Special People Club in the backyard with her only friend the younger Ralphy. Steve Rodgers is actually nice to her and she misunderstands. Brandon starts taking an even more intense interest in her.
Heather Matarazzo is amazingly awkward. It is cringe-worthy. Writer/director Todd Solondz is the king of the disturbing underbelly of society. The bullying is hard to watch. Dawn is not a nice girl but she is the clueless girl trying to find her way. She often hurts people just as others have hurt her. The movie is so uncomfortable that the audience has no choice but to laugh. And then it gets darker. Sometimes it goes over the edge like what happens to Missy. There's no real need to go that far but it's not a problem. At its center, there is the compelling Matarazzo.
Heather Matarazzo is amazingly awkward. It is cringe-worthy. Writer/director Todd Solondz is the king of the disturbing underbelly of society. The bullying is hard to watch. Dawn is not a nice girl but she is the clueless girl trying to find her way. She often hurts people just as others have hurt her. The movie is so uncomfortable that the audience has no choice but to laugh. And then it gets darker. Sometimes it goes over the edge like what happens to Missy. There's no real need to go that far but it's not a problem. At its center, there is the compelling Matarazzo.