Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Michael Patrick Jann

Writer (WGA):

Lona Williams (written by)

Release Date:

23 July 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The battle between the good and the bad is bound to get ugly.

Plot:

In a small Minnesota town, the annual beauty pageant is being covered by a TV crew. Former winner Gladys...

Plot Keywords:

Beauty Pageant | Black Comedy | Swan | Teen Movie | Small Town

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Kirsten Dunst	...	Amber Atkins
Ellen Barkin	...	Annette Atkins
Allison Janney	...	Loretta
Denise Richards	...	Rebecca 'Becky' Ann Leeman
Kirstie Alley	...	Gladys Leeman
Sam McMurray	...	Lester Leeman
Mindy Sterling	...	Iris Clark
Brittany Murphy	...	Lisa Swenson
Amy Adams	...	Leslie Miller
Laurie A. Sinclair	...	Michelle Johnson (as Laurie Sinclair)
Shannon Nelson	...	Tess Weinhaus
Tara Redepenning	...	Molly Howard
Sarah Stewart	...	Jenelle Betz
Alexandra Holden	...	Mary Johanson
Brooke Elise Bushman	...	Tammy Curry

Also Known As:

Dairy Queens (USA) (working title)
Gnadenlos schön (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for irreverent and crude humor, sex-related material and language.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Finland:K-11 | Argentina:13 | Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Canada:14A | France:U | Germany:12 | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Village, Lakeville, Minnesota, USA

Company:

Capella International

Trivia:

The original title was "Dairy Queens", but it had to be changed after the corporation that owns the Dairy Queen ice cream chain filed a lawsuit.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: On the opening credits of the Region 1 DVD, the words read "...a documentary film crew film was sent to Mountrose Minnesota...." - it should obviously read "a documentary film crew was sent..."

Quotes:

Leslie Miller: Oh yeah... really nervous... it's been about, 2 months. I haven't told my boyfriend yet. How did you know?
[pauses]
Leslie Miller: OH! You mean about the pageant! Yeah!

Movie Connections:

References "The Carol Burnett Show" (1967)

An outrageous, deliciously bad-taste classic.

From the moment front-runner Tammy Curry (Brooke Bushman) is blown to pieces on her sabotaged tractor, it's clear this beauty pageant will be fought tooth and nail. And it ain't gonna be pretty.

In the small Midwest community of Mount Rose, Minnesota, the Sarah Rose Miss Teen Princess contest is into the final furlong. 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. An outrageous, deliciously bad-taste classic.

8/10