Movie #191 Drop Dead Gorgeous *1999*

Kirsten Dunst
Ellen Barkin
Kirstie Alley
Allison Janney
Denise Richards
Brittney Murphy
Amy Adams
Michael Patrick Jann (Director)

Drop Dead Gorgeous is a mockumentary about a beauty pageant in Minnesota.  This pageant is being ran by one of the contestants mothers played by Kirstie Alley.  The mother had won this pageant years ago and she is going to make sure that her daughter wins now.  Even if it means hurting or even killing off the other contestants.

A good friend of mine turned me on to this film about 8 years ago on DVD.  I rented it and laughed my ass off.  First off there is the fun natured jabbing at the Minnesota natives and their Lutheran ways.  I had the pleasure this weekend of watching this movie with a good friend and his family.  All Minnesota transplants with a strong Lutheran up bringing.  They thought it was hilarious as well. 

Then the jokes move towards the darker side as Alley's daughters (played with restraint by Denise Richards) biggest competitors start getting bumped off.  The one girl who manages to avoid all these deathly pitfalls is played by a young Kirsten Dunst.

She is a trailer raised girl with aspirations of following in Diane Sawyers shoes.  As we get to know Dunst's character we meet her mother and intrusive neighbor, played respectively by Barking and Janney.  The trailer trash jokes then begin to layer in with the black comedy.  At this point we begin to meet the other contestants, judges, and other towns folk.  It is a rich mixture of high and low brow comedy.

As the story progresses we are treated to the comedic laced pageantry.  I thought every word and music cue was right on the nose.  For a mockumentary, the film makers must have had a good deal of inside information and been to a few too many pageants to get the details down like this.  This film is Spinal Tap for teen beauty contestants. 

Comedy is the most subjective genre of film.  I loved the movie, it's format, it's performances and it's heart.  It also has a very strange ending with a great (all be it an un-needed) coda.  With this much talent attached to a project you are bound to be able to latch on to something.  I give Drop Dead Gorgeous ★★★1/2.