Beautiful

**Beautiful** is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by Sally Field, which was released on September 29, 2000 by Destination Films.

## Plot

The film follows Mona Hibbard, a woman who sacrifices everything in order to reach her dream of winning the "Miss American Miss" beauty pageant. Mona's childhood best friend, Ruby supports her dream and even raises Mona's 7-year-old daughter, Vanessa. When Ruby is incarcerated for a crime she didn't commit, Mona is left to care for Vanessa by herself.

## Cast

* Minnie Driver as Mona Hibbard
	+ Colleen Rennison as Mona (age 12)
* Joey Lauren Adams as Ruby Stilwell
	+ Jacqueline Steiger as Ruby (age 12)
* Hallie Kate Eisenberg as Vanessa
* Kathleen Turner as Verna Chickle
* Leslie Stefanson as Joyce Parkins
* Bridgette Wilson as Miss Texas/Lorna Larkin
* Kathleen Robertson as Miss Tennessee/Wanda Love
* Michael McKean as Lance DeSalvo
* Gary Collins as Miss American Miss Pageant Host
* Linda Hart as Nedra Hibbard
* Chuti Tiu as Miss Hawaii
* Ali Landry as Belindy Lindbrook
* Jessica Collins as Miss Lawrenceville
* Julie Condra as Miss Iowa
* Herta Ware as Clara

## Production

Filming for "Beautiful" took place in Los Angeles, California. Filming locations include the Merry Go-Round at Griffith Park, the Shubert Theater and the Los Angeles Center Studios.

## Box Office

"Beautiful" grossed $1,409,433 during its opening weekend, ranking at #10 at the North American box office. Overall, it grossed $3,157,348 in the United States and $3,169,930 worldwide.

## Critical Reception

"Beautiful" received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 16% based on 64 reviews with an average rating of 3.20\10. The site's consensus reads: *"Sally Field's directing debut suffers from an inconsistent tone, implausible script, and a protagonist that critics say is one of the most loathsome to come around in a long time."'*

On Metacritic, the film has a 23% rating based on 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."

In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film one star out of four, saying: *"Beautiful should have gone through lots and lots more rewrites before it was imposed on audiences. It's a movie with so many inconsistencies, improbabilities, unanswered questions and unfinished characters that we have to suspend not only disbelief but also intelligence."*

In addition, Ebert felt that Minnie Driver was miscast in the role of Mona because she *"doesn't come across like the kind of person who could take beauty pageants seriously."*

Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle stated that Minnie Driver *"is stuck in a mess of a movie that suffers from awkward writing, a plot with major disconnects in plausibility, an annoyingly screechy kid character and cheesy production values."*

Ted Shen from the Chicago Reader said: *"Sally Field's direction is pedestrian, though she does manage to get winning performances out of [Minnie] Driver and [Hallie Kate] Eisenberg."*

Writing for the L.A. Weekly, Ella Taylor wrote: *"Made with the slick, shorthand complacency of a TV movie, Beautiful is so overstuffed with contrivance, you can hardly breathe."*

Stephen Helden of The New York Times said that the film *"teeters from a noisy sitcom (only one step removed from "The Beverly Hillbillies") to brickbat satire until it collapses in a pool of redemptive mush."*

## Awards

**The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards** (2000)

* Worst Sense of Direction (Stop them before they direct again!): Sally Field [*Nominated*]

**Young Artist Awards** (2001)

* Best Performance in a Feature Film (Young Actress Age Ten or Under): Hallie Eisenberg [*Nominated*]