Drop Dead Gorgeous

Plot synopsis:
In 1995, Mount Rose is preparing for its annual beauty pageant. Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst) is an optimistic teenager who signs up to compete in the pageant so she can follow in the footsteps of her idols, Diane Sawyer, and her mother, a former contestant. Amber works after school applying makeups to corpses at the mortuary, and lives with her mother, Annette Atkins (Ellen Barkin), in a small trailer near their friend Loretta (Allison Janney). This is in stark contrast to fellow contestant Rebecca ("Becky") Leeman (Denise Richards), the daughter of the richest man in town and his wife, Gladys Leeman (Kirstie Alley), who is the head of the pageant organizing committee and a former winner. Various business connections between the Leeman Furniture Store and the judges of the pageant cause many to speculate that the contest will be rigged or fixed.
Many odd events occur around town during the run-up to the pageant, including the death of a contestant, the athletic and competitive Tammy Curry, who is killed when her tractor explodes, and the death (ruled a hunting accident) of a boy who Becky liked, but who showed himself partial to Amber. Amber decides to pull out of the pageant after her mother is injured in an explosion at their mobile home, but reconsiders and decides to compete to follow her dreams and make her mother proud. At the dress rehearsal, fellow contestant Jenelle Betz swaps numbers with Amber. When Jenelle walks on stage at the beginning of rehearsal, a stage light falls and hits her in the head, knocking her unconscious and rendering her deaf. Luckily, Jenelle is a master of sign language so she claims that despite dropping out of the pageant, she has never been happier.
At the pageant, Amber's dance costume mysteriously goes missing. Amber blames Becky and the two get into a catty fight. Amber's best friend and fellow contestant Lisa Swenson (Brittany Murphy) tears them apart. After comforting a crying Amber, Lisa drops out of the pageant in order to give her own costume to Amber. Amber then performs her tap-dance number to a standing ovation, while Rebecca sings a cringe-worthy rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and dances with a life-size Jesus doll on a crucifix, both amusing and horrifying the audience. During judging, the previous year's winner Mary Johanson (now hospitalized with anorexia) reprises her talent act (lip-synching "Don't Cry Out Loud") while being pushed around the stage in her hospital wheelchair in a re-enactment of her dance movements. When the new winner is announced, Amber is named first runner-up to Rebecca.
During the victory parade the next day, Rebecca is killed in a freak accident when the elaborate float (made in Mexico, to save her father money) on which she is riding explodes. The grief-stricken Gladys flies into a blind rage and admits to having killed Tammy and to being responsible for all the attempts against Amber in the run-up to the pageant, and is immediately arrested. Rebecca's tragic death and Gladys's antics leave Amber as the new pageant winner.
At the State Competition, Amber wins the Minnesota American Teen Princess title by default after all the other contestants fall ill with seafood-related food poisoning, and Amber gets an all-expenses-paid trip to the national Sarah Rose American Teen Princess Pageant. Upon arrival there, Amber and the other state winners are devastated to find that the cosmetics company has been shut down by the IRS for tax evasion. This sends all the contestants except Amber on a rampage, vandalizing and destroying the property.
A few years later, Gladys escapes from prison and is sniping from the top of the Mount Rose supermarket, declaring her intent to take revenge on Amber. During the six-hour police standoff, a television reporter doing a live report at the scene is hit by a stray bullet. Amber quickly picks up the reporter's microphone and takes over, impressing the news station with her poise and confidence. The film closes with a scene showing Amber as co-anchor of the evening news for Minneapolis–St. Paul television station WAZB-TV, thus living her dream of possibly becoming the next Diane Sawyer.

Tags: comedy, entertaining

Review:
But for all the sugar-coated spoutings of world peace and harmony hairspray, it's a question of victory by any means necessary - as a roving documentary film crew discovers.In the Blue Ribbon rhubarb pie corner is Becky Leeman (Richards, rich kid daughter of former winner and rabidly proud officiating beauty pageant President Gladys (Alley).
And in the red, trailer-trash corner is morgue make-up artist Amber Atkins (Dunst), championed by her boozy mother Annette (Barkin) and her mother's morally suspect best friend Loretta (Janney).Casting wise it's spot on, as Alley launches with smiley, viper spitefulness into a beacon of single-minded hypocrisy, and is well matched by Richards, even if she looks the least convincing high school teenager since Stockard Channing's Rizzo enrolled in Rydell High.
Dunst meanwhile blossoms into a very accomplished actress, and - together with Barkin and Janney - claims most of the prize lines.If there's a weakness it's that the mockumentary approach doesn't always work, and the film drags on a little too long after a seemingly natural conclusion.
Still, the dark laughs are consistent, and the parody of middle America's bizarre beauty contest fixation is spiked with some jolting shock tactics - from the nurse-assisted wheelchair dance by the reigning anorexic crown holder to Richards' hilarious (not to mention blasphemous) love song for Jesus - but such blackness never obstructs rooting for Dunst's likable teen.
However, unlike a lot of films of the same ilk; here, hidden behind a facade of teen beauty and all the other trademarks of the teen comedy genre, is an intelligently written, witty and very dark satire on the consumer society.Drop Dead Gorgeous is a filmed in the style of a documentary, a la 'This is Spinal Tap' and follows the escapades of a group of contenders in the annual beauty pageant.
Some of the humour in this movie is so dark that even I, a fan of very black comedy, couldn't decide whether to laugh at or not; a woman that gets a beer can melted to her hand, an anorexic previous winner, and the pageant winner being blown up on a huge float are all included in this movie.
It's lighter and more tongue in cheek moments are also done very well, such as the part in which one of the judge's brothers gets caught in the car door, or a hilarious 'home video' of an explosion.The characters in Drop Dead Gorgeous are all, with the exception of Amber Atkins, disagreeable, shallow and overblown stereotypes.
Some of the lines said by these characters are priceless; stupid, but not overly stupid and you really could imagine people like these saying things like the characters in this film do.The entire cast of this movie excels; it features a lot of small characters and each one plays their part to perfection.
Two other stand out performances come from Kirstie Alley as the former winner of the pageant and mother of one of the contestants; and Ellen Barkin, who brings the characters of Amber's mother to life brilliantly.Drop Dead Gorgeous is a film that will be overlooked by many because it's a teen comedy.
Ellen Barkin is the trailer trash mother of Amber (Kirsten Dunst), Kirstie Alley is the homicidally ambitious mother of Becky (Denise Richards) a spoilt rich bitch.
They will stop at nothing to make sure their daughters win the Mount Rose beauty pageant, and i mean nothing.The whole movie is made in incredibly bad taste and for that reason alone, a lot of people will hate it; but i found it was very refreshing to see a black comedy of this quality for a change.
It's wonderfully scripted and directed, and the cast is simply perfect; everyone in it appears to be relishing the humour in the movie and it shows in their performances.If you like this kind of humour, you will love this, if you don't warm to black comedy then it's best left alone.8/10 Personally i think its great..
This is a great film for anyone who hates beauty pageants, and enjoys dark humor.
Several scenes are incredibly funny (but cannot be described here in order to avoid spoilers).The cast is great (and includes the marvelous Denise Richards as well as a bunch of Young great actresses)and the scenario follows its dark humor to the end of the movie.Definitively a movie to watch, especially if you are open minded and like deep irony and subtle but strong messages..
This movie was clearly intended to make fun of the American beauty contests, but it all felt very familiar."Drop Dead Gorgeous" isn't exactly what I would call a subtle satire.
It's sometimes so over-the-top that you will almost certainly have to laugh with it, but it's just not the kind of movie for the people who only like very 'intelligent' comedies.
They make for instance fun of their eternal drift to sensation and spectacular news items.In the end this is a nice comedy that may perhaps not be liked by everybody, but that certainly offered some good performances by all the actors.
Kirstie Alley, Ellen Barkin, Kirsten Dunst and Denise Richards are all perfectly cast.
Not your ordinary comedy, much more akin to the humor in Very Bad Things.As good as the whole cast is, Ellen Barkin really steals the show in this movie playing a beer guzzling, trailer park, hairdressing single mother with faults aplenty-but a heart of gold.
The author is a woman, and I noticed one thing about women as artists: if the're bad, they're bad as any male artist who's bad, but when they're good, they tend to be *exceptionally* good, and often they bring up angles which a man would have never thought of.One thing - I do not think the critique in this film concerns only America: exchange just a few minor cultural details for their continental counterparts and you'll see that here in Europe we have the same types of people who recognize themselves in this movie and consequently hate it, like their cousins overseas ...
Where Amber Atkins, a lower class girl who lives with her mum in a trailer park, aspires to become like Diane Sawyer and get out of Mount Rose and the Local Teen beauty pageant is "her only ticket outta here" But the rich Gladys Leeman has entered this year and she'll do anything to win.Drop dead gorgeous takes a stab at pretty much anything it comes across and it does it all well.
just thinking about this movie makes me laugh, and i could watch it everyday for the rest of my life.
but then it surprises you, because although it is witty, there are the classic comedy moments that make it a "fall on the floor laughing and crying" movie, that all of us know and love.
In one of the early scenes at the trailer park, the documentary makers are filming the mom and her friend (done hilariously by Allison Janney) and when they notice the cameras, she says, 'Are we on Cops again ?'To me it passes an important test when I can watch this film a numbers of times and still laugh at the girl talking about her 'lucky bolt' and the creepy rival talking about solving world hunger with her mom's apple pie.
It really is chock full of hilarious lines that are still quite funny after watching the film a few times over the years.If you liked movies like Best in Show, you will like this a lot.
This parody on one of America's favorite pastimes, Beauty Pageants, is simply drop dead funny.
Drop Dead Gorgeous is a movie worth seeing if you like the twisted black comedy genre at all.
Great characters and spot-on acting by Dunst are just two reasons this movie works so well.The story revolves around two young women, their mothers, and their participation in a local beauty contest, and is told in a fake-documentary style that fits surprisingly well.Kirsten Dunst is, as always, perfect for the role, delivering the over-the-top goody-two-shoes behaviour and dialogue with a conviction that's sometimes cause for laughs all on it's own.
Especially after a certain encounter with a fire-bomb and a beverage can.While I'm not a fan of either Denise Richards or Kirstie Alley, they do an adequate performance in their roles as the rival and her slightly insane mother.In conclusion, I can only tell you to see this movie if you enjoy some good laughs and a quite unique twist on the beauty contest theme.Rating: 9/10.
This is one of the best comedies I've seen out there and it actually makes me laugh every single time I watch it.
Ultimately a tale of rich/evil against poor/good, the black humour and satire against white-trash American culture serve to make this one of the funniest films of the year so far.
Kirsten Dunst, Allison Janey, Denise Richards, Brittany Murphy and the rest of the cast do a wonderful job handling their consistently silly, but familiar characters.
Alison Janney and Kirstie Alley make this film a real gem to watch, and the budding careers of Kirsten Dunst and Amy Adams will also have you feeling nostalgic, with the Midwest Fargo-like accents in Minessoootaaaaa, you will not be bored..
Kirsten Dunst is great, Ellen Barkin is so funny and the rest of the cast is unforgettable, whatever there names are.
Well, they got a pretty good package with Kirsten Dunst, Deinse Richards, Kirstie Alley and Ellen Barkin and they did it.
Drop Dead Gorgeous is one of the funniest movies I have seen for a long time.
While it may not offer any earth-shattering revelations about the beauty pageant life, this film definitely delivers some unforgettable characters, along with some great laughs..
With an incredible cast, and non-stop dark, biting humor, Drop Dead Gorgeous is one of the few comedies that I've seen that had me laughing out loud.Kirstie Allie, Allison Janney, Ellen Barken, Brittany Murphy, a young Amy Adams, Kirstin Dunst, Denise Richards...so many great actors, and all do a great job.
Captured by a supposed documentary film crew over a course of a few weeks, "Drop Dead Gorgeous's" biting satire and gallows humor hits you like a malfunctioning stage light to the head.Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst) is a modest teenager with the modest goal of performing her dance routine in front of her mother (Ellen Barkin) who was a former beauty queen.
Not only do Dunst, Barkin, and Alley deliver but so does the supporting cast which includes Allison Janney Brittany Murphy, Amy Adams, Mindy Sterling and even walk-ons by Adam West and the always funny Nora Dunn.In conclusion, for those who like their satire cold and black, and those who can appreciate a largely female cast "Drop Dead Gorgeous" maybe just the shot in the arm you need.http://theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com/.
I hope that realizing this helps you to see this movie without letting its potentially offensive nature ruin it for you, and instead view it as an opportunity to laugh at a superbly funny satire of everyone..
Girls Check In, But They Don't Check Out. This is absolutely, without a question, my favorite film of 1999.I find that it is one of those movies that either 'you get' and can't stop laughing....or you don't 'get' and think it is stupid and offensive.The Brits accuse us of lacking in the irony department.....and for those of you that did not enjoy this film, look in the mirror.
It's the absurdity of situations and the brilliant dialogues that distinguish this movie.If you enjoyed 'American Beauty' and the way that movie made clever fun of the American way of life, you will love 'Drop Dead Gorgeous'.
This film has some very funny moments, which could have been funnier had they not been handled in such a heavy handed fashion.Well cast and well acted the psuedo documentary style  did tend to pall after a while, but in many ways it was a more telling indictment on American  values than the much feted American Beauty.
Of the excellent cast, Ellen Barkin stands out as the often zonked out mother of our heroine, who has us rooting for her right from the early scenes.What spoils the movie somewhat is its tendency to drag out some of the funny scenes and to really stretch the imagination that ANYONE could be as bad as some of the "talent show" acts were.
The Denise Richards "Jesus" act was ridiculous, not funny (and I don't make this comment from religious bias)and I have to agree with other comments on the totally unnecessary scenes with the anorexic "reigning queen", once again not funny.Apart from these carps, I would recommend this movie as being much deeper in some ways than its subject matter suggests.
Watch for the funniest scene where Richards dances with Jesus on a crucifix.Alley is hysterical as the Mount Rose Beauty Pageant commander with her country accents.
Allison Janney (my god she can act...she was awesome in "American Beauty" as Ricky's mother too) plays Barkin's hysterical friend with her great one-liners, and Kirsten Dunst was hysterical as the intelligent, Beauty Pageant, "trailer trash" tenant.
Nevertheless, isn't that what a satire is?This movie is essentially a mock documentary about the mother of a beauty pageant contestant in small town America going a little, and that's an understatement, overboard in making her daughter win the pageant over the other contestants.
Kirsty Ally was exceptionally good in the role, and the best actress in the whole movie, was Ellen Barkin, who played Kirsten Dunst's mom.
Drop Dead Gorgeous is filmed in a documentary style (no, thankfully not like the Blair Witch Project, or any of its many imitators) and charts a beauty pageant in small town America.If you're expecting just some simply bitchiness between catty teenage queens, you're probably thinking too low.
Special credit must go to Denise Richards who is truly brilliant when she comes to visit the former beauty queen winner in hospital (I'll say no more about that - just classic).Perhaps Drop Dead Gorgeous didn't set the box office alight at its time of release because of its dark subject matter.
It's a shame such a fate befell Drop Dead Gorgeous, a dark, funny and genuinely clever lampooning of the beauty queen pageant done as mockumentary.Drop Dead Gorgeous focuses on a film crew who are making a documentary about a local beauty pageant, interviewing all of the contestants and event organizer Gladys (Kirstie Alley) a former pageant winner who's daughter Rebecca (Denise Richards) is entering this year's pageant.
Some scenes verge on being brilliant and the performances, particularly Kirstie Alley, are all first rate.While the film can be enjoyed on multiple viewings, it's not really the type you watch over and over, which also would have counted against it as an appealing VHS purchase.Fun, dark and well made, Drop Dead Gorgeous is well worth tracking down..
For those who despise warped humor this film is not for you but for viewers who love to never take life too seriously this movie is great..
Another killer cast including Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin, Denise Richards, Brittany Murphy, a pre-Fat Actress Kirstie Alley, scene stealing Allison Janney, and side-splittingly hilarious Will Sasso.
You go watch some Meg Ryan romantic comedy, and we'll be over here enjoying ourselves if anyone needs us.This film was pretty funny, if a bit caught up in the  mockumentary craze of a couple years ago.
The characterizations are right-on, down to the Lutheran Gun-Club references and the sad confrontational competitive nature of small-town politics.and look at this cast!: Kirsten Dunst at her cutest, Ellen Barkin plays white-trash to the hilt, Kirstie Alley and Denise Richards are appallingly great, Sam McMurray is the dad you love to hate...
Kirsten Dunst is so talented and shows off her comic dead-pan; really enjoyable performances from Brittany Murphy (who already showed off her comic stylings in "Clueless"), Kirsty Alley (who seems to be channelling this role in her new scary PierOne commercials), and even Denise Richards (who knew she could be funny?).
Watch for great cameo appearances by Mo Gaffney and Nora Dunn, as well.While the mockumentary approach falls apart about half-way through the film and some of the jokes are obvious two minutes before they happen, the film is very funny, with great comedic performances from many actresses not know for comedic roles.
The cast is very strong, especially, Kirstie Ally, Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin and Denise Richards.
Best line "This isn't an American teen princess pagent this is, this is this is NAZI GERMANY!!!" Kirsten Dunst and Ellen Barkin are great, Alison Janney, Kirsty Alley and Denise Richards are good too.
This is a great movie, most of the  main jokes (pervert judge, the beauty pageant, the retard, the list goes on...) are hilarious, as good as any black comedy you'll ever see (the pageant is a classic comedy moment).
Beauty pageants may be too easy to satirize, but this still drop dead hilarious!
This sounded boring in my ears, I only watched the movie because of the stars (I simply trust people which made good movies in the past), and was of course very happy about that afterwards, because, as I already stated, this is an absolute masterpiece, with perfect acting, one wonderful scene after the other, full of black humor, full of parodies about the typical craziness of americans (for example, their love to weapons), full of especially crazy americans and last not least - prepare to watch the ugliest, most abnormal, kinkiest, most one-dimensional Denise Richards you're ever seen, and also the most intelligent, most gorgeous angel called Kirsten Dunst you can imagine.
The casting works VERY well throughout the movie: Kirstie Alley as the civic-fascist mother of her pageant-hopeful snob daughter, and Ellen Barkin as the beer-swilling trailer-trash mama of the squeaky-clean good girl beauty contestant.
Overall, "Drop Dead Gorgeous" was a funny movie.
A really hilarious film satirizing beauty pageants and small-town life.
Drop Dead Gorgeous should be movie of the year!!.
Does anyone else think that Drop Dead Gorgeous should be voted the best movie of the year???!!!