Review of Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) by Doctor S — 16 Feb 2014

Very enjoyable mockumentary & modestly black comedy detailing the behind-the-scenes preparations, rivalries, and fatalities at a small-town Minnesota teen beauty pageant. The main competitors are Denise Richards, fitting in a role she probably played in real life as Becky Leeman the perfect daughter of the richest family and who says all the correct bland Miss America cliches, and Kirsten Dunst, perky as Amber Atkins who idolizes Diane Sawyer, fixes the hair & makeup of the bodies at the mortuary for experience, lives in a trailer with her boozy mom Ellen Barkin, and sees a pageant victory as a chance for a future beyond Mount Rose. Many amusing characterizations, from the girls in the pageant to the judges to the parents, without overusing too many hayseed stereotypes (and the ones they have are pretty bang-on.).

Not as shrewd as the post-Spinal Tap Christopher Guest mocku-improvs, but not as understated either which generates a number of good laughs, like Barkin getting a beer can fused to her hand following an explosion, her best friend Allison Janney constantly hitting on the film crew, and a mass vomiting outbreak among beauty queens who ate some tainted seafood. But what really sells this movie is Dunst who through her innocent ambitions and sweet demeanor make you want her to win SO BAD - she's just GOT to beat that phony Becky Leeman, god don't you just HATE HER!?!