DVD Review: Drop Dead Gorgeous

[Guest TSMAdmin]

Drop Dead Gorgeous

 

Directed by Michael Patrick Jann

 

Written by Lona Williams

 

Starring Kirsten Dunst, Kirstie Alley, Denise Richards, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, Matt Malloy, Sam McMurray and Brittany Murphy

 

Released by New Line Home Video

 

Rated PG-13, 98 min.

 

Watching shows like Inside Edition, Hard Copy, and even CNN was made especially difficult in January of 1997. The video clips of a pint-sized 6 year old JonBenet Ramsey seemed almost surreal after you learned what her fate had ultimately become. We all learned together that Ramsey would no longer be able to follow in the footsteps of her former beauty pageant contestant and former Miss West Virginia mother, Patsy. JonBenet wouldn't be able to continue to learn the skills mandatory for upward social mobility that had made her father John "Businessman of the Year" in their quaint hometown. Never again would we see that cherub-faced pixie dance across stages in heavy makeup and sequined outfits displaying her "natural" talent and huge hair. We would never witness these things because JonBenet Patricia Ramsey had been found dead on December 26th, 1996 in the basement of her own home in Boulder, Colorado; a murder victim either by the hands of clumsy kidnappers or her own parents.

 

Beauty pageants, like everything else in the world, are a fierce competition. And like any other competition it has its own seedy underbelly and its share of backstage politicking and backstabbing. Lona Williams, the writer and a former beauty pageant contestant herself has taken pen to paper and given us a look at her experiences as an object; to be oggled and judged in competition with other young girls presented in a game show-like format. But rather than write a true to life and bitter expose', Drop Dead Gorgeous is written with a satirical edge; a mockumentary in the same vein as This Is Spinal Tap and Waiting for Guffman. And like the JonBenet story, (though much more humorous), people end up dead.

 

THE MOVIE:

 

Drop Dead Gorgeous introduces us to rural Mount Rose, Minnesota, home to 5,076 God-fearing Lutherans, where "you won't find a 'back room' in our video stores." Here in Mt. Rose everyone speaks in one of those exaggerated "Fargo" accents and if you're a 17 year old girl the "thing to do" is enter into the Sara Rose Cosmetics Princess America Teen Beauty Pageant. The competition, as always is fierce, but the entire town knows this year's war of wills will come down to two favorites: Amber Atkins and Becky Leeman.

 

Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst) is a perky and personable blonde who specializes in tap dancing and often practices her routines during her after school job at the local mortuary (where she also practices her beautician skills on the corpses). She idolizes Diane Sawyer and hopes to follow in her footsteps as a pageant winner and then broadcast journalist. Her mother is the trailer-dwelling, swearing Annette (Ellen Barkin), a former pageant contestant herself, local hairdresser, chain smoker and heavy drinker.

 

Becky Leeman (Denise Richards) is the daughter of this year's pageant coordinator and former Miss Mt. Rose of seventeen years ago, Gladys Leeman (Kirstie Alley). The Leemans are Mt. Rose's big wigs and wealthiest family; when one of them takes a shit "it's front page news", says one of Annette's friends. So of course, we can expect the Leemans to be completely unbiased and fair when it comes to their own daughter competing in the pageant they are sponsoring.

 

Becky Leeman is an ultra-competitive snob. A bitch, for lack of a better term. She must win at any and all costs in everything she does, a trait instilled in her by her mother. In fact, the only thing Becky has lost is her accent, also the doing of her mother. Becky is more than adept at getting her way, manipulating those around her and thinking of cute cons to make herself look better. I guess she has to do these things to compensate for her obvious lack of charm and "people" skills. With the help of her mother, though, Rebecca Ann Leeman seems to be a lock as the new Miss Mt. Rose.

 

Every time Becky seems to be facing a tough obstacle, an accident mysteriously befalls her adversary. As these tragedies mount, they seem to be getting closer and closer to Amber, her friends and family. A friend's tractor explodes, another friend has a hunting accident and finally her own mother's trailer/beauty shop is bombed. Amber wants to quit, but her Mom won't allow it; this pageant could be Amber's ticket out of town and on the road to achieving her dream of her generation's Diane Sawyer. So, the likeable Amber pulls up her bootstraps with a newfound determination to see this pageant through to the end. But have Amber and Annette underestimated Becky and Gladys' determination to secure the tiara this year?

 

DDG is, like most black comedies, over the top with its stereotypes about small town life and the characters that dwell within. It also takes several jabs at religion, Midwest family values and of course, the inner workings of pageants and women as objects. It does a good job at poking fun, but there are times where it feels like it pulls back in fear of going too far. Parody and satire are cruel mistresses and are probably the most difficult types of comedy to do. With material as deadpan as DDG, you can't afford to be cautious or be scared to offend your audience; you have to go full-tilt and hope for the best. At a time where movies like There's Something About Mary and American Pie were doing HUGE box office numbers, I don't understand why the makers of DDG would be so apprehensive. The South Park cats and Tom Green have made a living from pushing the envelope. That's the only flaw this movie suffers from. The casting is very inspired as far as the mother/daughter teams go; Barkin/Dunst and Alley/Richards look like they could really be mother and offspring.

 

The trailers lead you to believe that this movie (formerly titled Dairy Queens) is more about Denise Richards' character more than it actually is, but I guess that Richards was the bigger name due to Wild Things than Kirsten Dunst was at the time. DDG might have been marketed a little differently had it come out today considering Spider Man's recent success and Richards' latest project being the lame Undercover Brother. Truth be told, Richards is barely seen any more than some of the supporting cast. This is a Kirsten Dunst vehicle. Although Richards does have her comedic moment in the sun when she performs "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" during the pageant, singing the tune to a man very special to her, a joke I can't bring myself to spoil.

 

THE DVD:

 

Drop Dead Gorgeous is presented in both 2.0 surround and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. The disc is one-sided but gives you the option of choosing between a fullscreen or widescreen presentation. There aren't many special features, however, other than the regular cast and crew bios and a few trailers (the original theatrical trailer for DDG, Wag the Dog, National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon and Deconstructing Harry). For those of you who bother to check out the DVD-ROM features, they offer Script-to-Screen screenplay access. I would like to have had a commentary that included at least the writer, Lona Williams. I'm sure she would have had tons of interesting anecdotes having competed in pageants in the past. It's always cool to hear which parts of a screenplay are inspired by real life events.

 

IMODO:

 

One of the huge bright spots in DDG is in the supporting cast. While the main characters are supposed to be a little "off" and quirky in their own right, it's the background players who end up being the funniest. I have been a Brittany Murphy mark since first seeing her in Drive, a really bad Hong Kong-style action movie starring Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison. She turns in yet another memorable performance here as a daughter doing what it is her family expects from her to fill the void left by her alternative-lifestyle living older brother. In fact, she plays a pivotal role in helping Amber along later in the pageant.

 

Allison Janney (TV's West Wing, Nurse Betty, and 10 Things I Hate About You) is a riot and easily the best of the supporting actors as Ellen Barkin's sex-starved and sleazy best friend/neighbor. She has so many one-liners and quips you'll have to watch the movie at least twice to catch and fully appreciate them all. Sam McMurray (Raising Arizona) plays Lester Leeman, husband to Kirstie Alley's character. Lester's a successful businessman (a furniture salesman), but you'll laugh at his everyman qualities and refusal to put on an act with his high maintenance wife and daughter. His views on race and his sneaking booze into the final pageant will have you rolling. Finally, Matt Malloy (In The Company of Men) is great as paranoid judge, John Dough, who likes being around the nubile young contestants a bit too much. John Dough may have been a sex offender somewhere else, we don't know. But I do know I like his jittery, on-edge act and constant denial of anything involving young girls and his peculiar behavior around them or when they're mentioned. This movie is worth at least renting just for these four performances alone.

 

Recommended as a rental first, then perhaps a permanent addition to your DVD library if you like it as much as I.