Drop Dead Gorgeous Review
by Nick Amado (namado AT concentric DOT net)August 8th, 1999
Review: Drop Dead Gorgeous
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Kirstie Alley, Allison Janney, Ellen Barkin Directed by Michael Patrick Jann
Approx: 95 min
Well I just don't know what's wrong with this country. Drop Dead
Gorgeous is one of the funnier films I've seen this year. I guess
people get uptight about making fun of retarded people and killing
beauty queens. But all that aside, Drop Dead is dark and hilarious. It
is the ultimate anti-PC picture, an irreverant look at middle America
hicks and their "culture". The film is seen through the eyes of a documentary film crew as they track the "Sara Rose Miss Teen Princess America" competition in Mount Rose Minnesota. Becky (Richards) is the favorite to win the pageant, she is pretty, perky and will cater to
all the anglo standards of womanhood (i.e. Christ worship and hospital visits.) She also is the daughter of the wealthiest household in the
town of 5,000, a town whose hospital holds an eating disorder
wing.(One of its inhabitants is last year's winner.) Becky's mother
Gladys (Alley) won 17 years earlier and will do anything to see to it
that Becky wins. The underdog and crowd favorite is Amber (Dunst). Her mother (Barkin) is more interested in nicotine and beer and tips her daughter to "get money up front if (the film crew) asks you to take
off your top".
All the girls in the town who even remotely qulify (or have any
interest in qualifying) for the pageant compete for the crown. Each is their own whacky character. One is an adoptee of a Japanese-American
family who tries desperately to American-ize. Another is envious of
her beloved brother who moved to New York to impersonate Liza, Barbara
and Madonna. And one has an obsession with ceramic horses and carries
with her a large bolt that hit her in the head (if it had hit her length-wise, she'd have died, lucky it hit her flat.) And then there's Amber, who works as a makeup artist for a morgue and as a cafeteria dish-washer. Her undying enthusiasm to be Diane Sawyer brings her into
the competition.
Drop Dead Gorgeous is full of gags, both visual and verbal. Much of
the added humorous components are amplified because of the documentary approach. The realism of the documentary is totally outweighed by the goofiness of the situations and characters. Director Jann did a lot of double takes in an interesting fashion. He'd actually show you a joke
in a wide shot, before the punchline arrived, then go back to it for a focus and punchline. In other words, if you were a sharp viewer, you
could see a joke coming before it actually got there, in essence
getting two laughs out of the same joke! Something that is rare and
risky is pulled off beautifully here.
Barkin is absolutely perfect as the trailer trash mother to Amber. She plays most of the film with a beer can melted into her right hand as a result of a trailer explosion which reeked of foul play. She is truly
a joy to watch as her Minnesotian/Dakotan accent is made funnier by
her little asides. Her best moment is during the actual pageant as she
sits doped up for the pain, she makes faces throughout that are
priceless. Dunst too gives a great performance and shows a real talent
for comedy. Drop Dead Gorgeous certainly deserves a wider audience and
will probably shock a lot of people, both because of its content and because they probably didn't expect it to be this good.
* * * out of * * * * stars
© 1999 Nick Amado
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