Drop Dead Gorgeous Drop Dead Gorgeous is the latest and most outrageous of the slew of late-nineties "Nothing's sacred" comedies, a genre blown open by "There's Something About Mary." As a strike back against the days of "political correctness," it's become a new form of comedy to blatantly insult the mentally challenged, economically disadvantaged (that is, "retards" and "trailer trash," respectively), unabashedly and unapologetically. With a target as wide-open as a beauty pageant, the possibilities for satire are nearly endless, and the new politically incorrect humor almost called for.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.

The use of last year's Miss Mount Rose Teen American Princess - who is now hospitalized with serious anorexia - is, to quote a friend "really, really sick." And scathingly hilarious, though I did feel a little bad later for laughing. However, the line "the retard has his pants open" was just, well, stupid.
This mockumentary was darker than I expected, though not necessarily better (Drop Dead Gorgeous isn't just a funny title), and features Minnesota accents, a comic staple that many seem to think is a Fargo rip-off. Obviously, these people have never actually been to Minnesota, where they really do talk like that. Kirstie Alley, apparently, has never been there either. Her accent, performance, dialogue, in fact, everything, is awful. In fact, the only good performance was the girl who did different dog-barks in the talent section, I think. Another jewel of a moment was the wannabe drama-queen performing part of "Soylent Green," which was intended to be mocking but actually made me think she was probably the coolest character in the film.

But I digress. Kirsten Dunst was okay as the heroine (if there is such a thing) of the film, even though her idol, who she babbles about incessantly, is Diane Sawyer. I love Kirsten, in "Interview with a Vampire" through "Devil's Arithmetic." Her turn as Amber Atkins is fairly straightforward, and she get bonus points for her campy trailer park mother (Ellen Barkin) and friend (Allison Janney), and for her after-school job in a funeral parlor. Denise Richards is also passable in her role as the pleasant on the surface, evil on the inside, expected winner of the beauty pageant, the richest and prettiest girl in town, whose mother is in charge of the whole thing. She gets bonus points for being the vice-president of the Lutheran Girls' Gun Club.

While I'm giving points, the whole movie gets a few for including loads of Jell-O salad and a description of lutefisk, what "Fargo" was really missing.

Overall, I got the feeling this movie was holding back a bit from full biting sarcasm and satire, afraid to *really* offend the audience, and thus missing the level of humor it could have reached. It was, however, funny at points, and if you've ever been involved in the back-stabbing world of beauty pageants, or dance, or acting, etc, you'll get a kick out of how familiar some of this is... it's labelled a parody, but it's actually more of a real documentary than the director intended.
-- by fenchurch Posted by Arcterex at July 26, 1999 12:42 AM