(1999)
The battle between the good and the bad is bound to get ugly.
"Drop Dead Gorgeous" is a masterpiece of modern dark comedy at its best: hilariously biting satire directed Michael Patrick Jann, with the perfect cast - including Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Kirstie Alley, Amy Adams (in her first film role), Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, Brittany Murphy and Sam McMurray.
It was regarded by some as being "mean-spirited" when it first came out - the very quality that propels it to its level of ingenuity, and it received mixed reviews - people either loved it or did not like it at all.
The mockumentary style film centers around the annual beauty pageant in a small Minnesota town named Mount Rose, and the rivalries, pettiness, and murders that occur over the chance to become the "Mount Rose Teen American Princess", who receives a scholarship from the contest sponsor, Sarah Rose Cosmetics, which enables the winner to leave the tiny town and hopefully become a success. The heroine, sweet and talented Amber Atkins (Dunst), lives in a tiny trailer with her chain-smoking, beer-guzzling, good-hearted mother Annette (Barkin), whose best friend, flirtatious Loretta (Janney) resides a couple of trailers away. As the contest nears, people who might interfere with the Leeman girl winning, or with her emotions, mysteriously and violently die. Amber, after finding a not-so-subtle note in her locker proclaiming "You're next!" wants to pull out of the pageant after her mother is almost killed in an explosion.
Amber practices her tap-dancing while making up the dead in her part-time job at the local morgue, and dreams of becoming like her idol Diane Sawyer. In sharp contrast to Amber is Rebecca Ann Leeman (Richards), her poisonous and wealthy rival, who lives with her parents, one-time Mount Rose pageant winner and stage mother-monster Gladys (Alley), and owner of the local furniture store, abrasive and crass Lester (McMurray).
"Drop Dead Gorgeous" is a masterful exercise in satire, not to be missed by anyone who appreciates the genre.
