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1999
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DROP
DEAD GORGEOUS
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STARRING:KIRSTEN
DUNST,KIRSTIE ALLEY,DENISE RICHARDS,ELLEN BARKIN,ALISON JANNEY,MINDY
STERLING,BRITTANY MURPHY,AMY ADAMS
WRITTEN
BY LONA WILLIAMS
PRODUCED
BY JUDY HOFFLUND & GAVIN POLONE
DIRECTED
BY MICHAEL PATRICK JANN
GENRE:COMEDY
RATED:AUSTRALIA:M/UK:15/USA:PG-13
RUNNING
TIME:97 MINS
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A
great film full of many comedic moments thanks to a twisted script
and memorable characters, Drop Dead Gorgeous is a top notch
teen comedy "mockumentary" that thankfully stays away from
all of the boring clichés, pushing the limits of bad taste
while not resorting to the usual gross out humor that seems to be
the norm lately.
Set in the fictional town of Mount Rose Minnesota - a small, conservative,
patriotic town where parents buy their kids guns for birthday presents
- the movie primarily focuses on the rivalry between trailer trash
Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst) and the rich bitch Rebecca Leeman (Denise
Richards) as a TV crew documents the Annual Sarah Rose American Teen
Princess Pageant only to find that murder and corruption are common
place in the cut throat world of teen pageants. Very beautiful and
very talented, Amber works as a make artist in a funeral home in her
spare time whose heroes are Dian Sawyer and her mother, Annette (Ellen
Barkin, a personal favorite of mine). Her main competition is Rebecca,
who is a shoe in to win since her mother, Gladys (Kirstie Alley) the
Head of the Pageant Committee and former pageant winner is more than
determined to have her daughter follow in her footsteps.
The whole cast excels, with special mention to Dunst, Alley, Barkin,
the always excellent Alison Janney, Brittany Murphy and Will Saso.
Writer Lona Williams weaves a script so wickedly dark it literally
made me ashamed at times when I realized what I was laughing at; the
towns previous years pageant winner is now anorexic; Will Saso's mentally
challenged Hank Vilmes; Denise Richards dancing with a dummy of Jesus
on a cross to the song of "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You"
… the list goes on and on, and I loved every minute of it. |
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