Review 136
Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
Hello everyone. June has really flown by, hasn't it? I kept meaning to write a review, but then life got in the way. Plus it's been nice outside and I recently joined a class for the summer, so I haven't been home most evenings. Today, unexpectedly, I was home earlier than usual with nothing to do, so I decided I'd finally sit down and review Michael Patrick Jann's Drop Dead Gorgeous starring Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards (never thought I'd see her face again after Starship Troopers), Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, and Kirstie Alley. Honestly, I encourage you guys to check out the cast - it's filled with a ton familiar faces who I hadn't seen, well, since the nineties. And others you may recognise now.
Mount Rose, Minnesota is holding its annual beauty pageant in order to have their town represented in the state and, hopefully, national beauty pageant. A documentary crew follows around the contestants who range from overly creepy to down-right sadistic, with one face, Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst), hoping to win in order to follow in the steps of Diane Sawyer and her mom (Ellen Barkin).
With such a low rating, I thought this film would be horrendous. I mean, a friend recommended it to me saying he thought it was hilarious, but still, I've been wronged before. In fact, Drop Dead Gorgeous is actually pretty legit. Now, I think it's a dark comedy aimed at the female crowd given the subject matter, that is, I don't see a guy watching this and being particularly amused, but it definitely had some great jokes. The humour really was dark at times. One of my favourites was when the girl adopted by the Japanese family (watch the film to get it) is honouring the United States for their "nuclear arsenal". Honestly, I was impressed with that one. And there are others, trust me.
I honestly don't know if I have much else to say about the film given that I had low standards for it and the jokes were actually not bad. The acting was fine, and I thought Denise Richards and Kirsten Dunst did great jobs. I mean, I suppose I could talk about the subject matter, but I think the film speaks for itself on everything. The only issue I had is that the film is supposed to be filmed like a documentary, but it really wasn't in that style at all. It gave an excuse for characters to talk to the camera, but don't half-ass the documentary style, please.
Drop Dead Gorgeous is a nice little dark film dealing with a normally pleasant and all-fake event, a beauty pageant. It's not superb film-making and the non-documentary-style bothered me, but given my little expectations, it came out okay. Would recommend for the morbid girl in your life.
