Rating: 

The Info

Directed by: Michael Patrick Jann
Written by: Lona Williams
Starring: Kirstie Alley, Ellen Barkin, Kirsten Dunst, Denise Williams
Produced by: Judy Hofflund, Gavin Polone

The Nutshell

A small town and its beauty pageant are chosen to be filmed for a documentary. The results are surprising.

The Review

    Small-town America seems to be an easy target in Hollywood. Some films concentrate on the quirky inhabitants of these towns (Fargo, U-Turn), while others capture the town itself (Varsity Blues, October Sky). Drop Dead Gorgeous manages to do both, giving us a scathing look at a part of America where rush hour traffic and cafe lattes aren't the norm. Pulling few punches and occasionally going over the top, this film should make anyone who considers himself trailer trash cringe.

    Filmed as a documentary, Drop Dead centres on the annual Sarah Rose Miss Teen Princess America Pageant, held in Mount Rose, Minnesota. Much as football is revered by the characters of Varsity Blues, the pageant is on everyone's mind in Mount Rose. The documentarians film all eight contestants, their families and friends, and various other townsfolk (the judges, choreographer etc.). Rather quickly, the main two contestants emerge: Amber Atkins (Dunst) and Rebecca Leeman (Richards). Amber works at the funeral home touching up corpses for viewing and is widely considered to be the nicer of the two. Rebecca is the daughter of Gladys Leeman, the richest woman in town. Rebecca has been bred for this event her whole life, since Gladys won it back in 1974 and plans to make winning a family tradition. Rebecca is snotty, arrogant and ambitious. The other contestants are a mix of klutzes, ditzes, and hormonal overload.

    Things don't go quite as planned in Mount Rose when people start turning up dead. Contestants and classmates are dying, Amber's mom gets badly and hilariously burned (she winds up having a beer can fused to her right hand for most of the film) when their trailer goes up in flames. Amber feels that all the carnage is targeted on her, and tries to quit the pageant, but this being a small town where the pageant is all-important, she is convinced to stay in the running. The pageant itself is a mess, with freshly painted props and catfights marring the end result.

    First time filmmakers Michael Patrick Jann (director) and Lona Williams (writer) combine with production designer Ruth Ammon to craft a believable setting for the film. While there are a few too many segues of barns, fields, and general stores for my liking, most of the setting works. The state of various trailerhomes, the fact that a furniture store owner is the richest man in town, the unnoticed racism bred into older characters and the unwillingness of townsfolk to mince words make Drop Dead Gorgeous a biting piece of work. The characters are a mix of good and bad. Ellen Barkin as Amber's mom Annette and her friend Loretta are well-written trailer trash, while Kirstie Alley's Gladys is way over the top (though relative to her usual work, Alley is fairly impressive here). Many jokes come at the expense of the easily picked-on, especially the store owner's "tard" son. The retard jokes come way too often, and while you laugh at them, they are obvious and cheap. The writing is in places, however, priceless. Loretta shamelessly flirts with every man around her, including the cameramen. She even announces "I got some!" on state-wide television. The appearance of a Cops film crew and the mayor grumbling about the "bloody Shriners" are all classic bits of cinematic wit.

    The film's documentary format is uneven. When characters are reacting directly to the presence of the camera in front of them, it works. However, many scenes unfold as if the camera weren't there, with events happening that would never happen in its presence. I realize that this is a fictional film, but these moments ruin any impact of the documentary approach. Films like 20 Dates use this approach much more effectively. The storyline itself is a bit silly. With a different, more realistic plot instead of the murders, Drop Dead Gorgeous could well have been a classic satire. Instead, it is a funny but silly look at a small town where a beauty pageant is the ticket out for its young women. Worth seeing.

Copyright - Tim Chandler

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