Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Kirstie Alley, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, Brittany Murphy, William Sasso
Director: Michael Patrick Jann
Producers: Judy Hofflund, Gavin Polone
Screenplay: Lona Williams
Cinematography: Michael Spiller
Music: Mark Mothersbaugh
U.S. Distributor: New Line Cinema
Fifteen years ago, director Rob Reiner brought This is Spinal Tap to the screen and launched a new form of satire. The movie, which was structured as a faux documentary, heaved a blistering salvo at the rock music industry. Since 1984, this method of parody has become a favorite of comedy-minded directors, each of whom has tweaked the format just enough to serve his or her purposes. In 1996, several of the creators of Spinal Tap (including Christopher Guest and Michael McKean) re-teamed to apply the "mockumentary" format (as it has become known) to the topic of small-town theater. The resulting movie, one of the year's most clever, was called Waiting for Guffman. Now, in 1999, along comes director Michael Patrick Jann with his sights set on teenage beauty pageants. And, with a style and content that bears more than a passing resemblance to Guffman, he sets out to skewer his subject in Drop Dead Gorgeous. But, although the satire is biting and the tone is irreverent, Drop Dead Gorgeous lacks the killer script and top notch performances necessary to make this a wholly successful production.
The film plays like a documentary expose of the behind-the-scenes politics, backstabbing, and other shenanigans that go on in small town teen beauty contests. This one takes place in the tiny rural road stop of Mt. Rose, Minnesota (population: 5076), and is sponsored by Sarah Rose Cosmetics. Miss Mt. Rose will go on to compete in the Miss Minnesota contest, and the winner of that round will be in the running for the national title. There are about a dozen would-be Miss Mt. Roses, all (except one) of whom share a host of common traits: they're pretty, they have shiny white teeth, and they're dumb. The two front-runners are Becky Leeman (Internet pin-up girl Denise Richards), the spoiled rich kid who's the local Lutheran Gun Club vice president, and Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst), who lives in a trailer park and dreams of following in the footsteps of her idol, Diane Sawyer. Amber's the nice girl, and Becky is nasty, but, because money talks, Becky is expected to win. Her mother, Gladys (Kirstie Alley), a former Miss Mt. Rose, has pulled out all the stops in her attempts to get a win for her daughter. Meanwhile, Amber's mom, Annette (Ellen Barkin), also a one-time beauty contest winner, is doing what she can. Drop Dead Gorgeous purports to get all the dirt on what the contestants will do in the name of victory - perhaps even killing their opponents.
One of the big problems with Drop Dead Gorgeous is that it never goes for the jugular the way a biting satire like Election does. Even in its darkest moments, this film always seems to be holding back, as if it's afraid to really offend viewers. That's not a good approach for any parody, regardless of the subject matter. Beauty pageants are ripe for the picking (Happy Texas, which scored a big win at Sundance this year and will be released by Miramax in the fall, offers a more successful lampoon of this kind of contest), but Drop Dead Gorgeous misses the bullseye a few too many times.
That's not to say that the film doesn't take risks or throw a few truly vicious jabs. Last year's Miss Mt. Rose is shown to be a permanent resident at an Eating Disorder Clinic. The pro-family values façade evident in some rural American communities is ripped to shreds by displaying the moral corruption of the most seemingly-religious members of Mt. Rose. Of course, the entire beauty pageant culture comes under constant fire, as does the small-town lifestyle (Waiting for Guffman did this better and with greater affection). And everyone in the movie uses one of those exaggerated Minnesota accents (except Denise Richards, whose character is going for the "all American" image, not "hick town USA"). Finally, Adam West plays the role of a good sport by making fun of his image as a has-been.
The acting is a mixed bag. Kirsten Dunst, who is still best remembered for her role in Interview with the Vampire, gives a credibly sweet performance as Amber, the film's dim-but-likable protagonist. Amber, who spends her after-school hours applying makeup to the stiffs at the local morgue, claims that she's in the beauty pageant not so much to win as to allow her mother to see her perform on stage. Denise Richards (most memorably of Wild Things, where she bared nearly all) is somewhat less successful as Amber's chief rival, Becky. Richards is okay in the part - she's playing a stuck-up bitch who will do anything to win (including dancing with a life-size crucifix) - but, rather than really biting into a role that cries for an over-the-top effort, she remains a little bland and low key. As the contestants' mothers, Ellen Barkin is suitably amusing in the part of a woman who needs surgery to remove a beer can that's fused to one hand, but Kirstie Alley is awful. Think of her worst performance in a Cheers episode and you come close to approximating what she accomplishes in this embarrassing turn.
Making his feature debut, director Michael Patrick Jann shows some aptitude for satire, but this is no Spinal Tap or Guffman. To be sure, Drop Dead Gorgeous has its share of worthwhile moments and there are times when it flirts with hilarious brilliance, but the project as a whole has a "been there, done that" sensation. Too many jokes fall flat and too many individual instances of parody feel strained. It's a little disappointing, because it feels like there's a scathing satire lurking somewhere just beneath the surface that never quite manages to emerge. In his next outing, if Jann tries another comedy, he needs to crank up the heat and really roast the characters. In Drop Dead Gorgeous, they're just a little overdone.
© 1999 James Berardinelli