It's 1995. The Sarah Rose Cosmetics American Teen Princess Pageant is the oldest beauty contest celebrating its 50th anniversary. In the rural town of Mount Rose, Minnesota, a documentary crew is filming the local chapter of the pageant run by Gladys Leeman (Kirstie Alley). Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst) is a hardworking, optimistic contestant following her cynical mother Annette Atkins (Ellen Barkin) and Diane Sawyer's footsteps. Loretta (Allison Janney) is their trailer park neighbor. Another contestant Tammy gets blown up in an unusual incident. She was the president of the gun club which rich girl Becky Leeman (Denise Richards) wanted. Amber's goofy friend Lisa Swenson (Brittany Murphy), perky cheerleader Leslie Miller (Amy Adams), and other wacky girls have also entered the pageant. There are creepy guys doing the judging. Another mysterious death occurs and Amber is suspicious.This is a faux documentary like a Christopher Guest movie except not as good. The idea is full of quirky potential. There are some chuckle moments but there isn't enough comedy. It needs those laugh out loud moments to keep going. The deadpan deliveries are expected to be funny by themselves but they're not. Dunst is great and these lovely girls do try. Overall, it just needs to be funnier.

There were a lot of really good films in the late 90s that came and went un noticed, some found an audience on VHS and others simply slipped away into the weekly rental section and stayed there until DVDs took over, resulting in such films being all but forgotten. It's a shame such a fate befell Drop Dead Gorgeous, a dark, funny and genuinely clever lampooning of the beauty queen pageant done as mockumentary.Drop Dead Gorgeous focuses on a film crew who are making a documentary about a local beauty pageant, interviewing all of the contestants and event organizer Gladys (Kirstie Alley) a former pageant winner who's daughter Rebecca (Denise Richards) is entering this year's pageant. Two things quickly become obvious: that ill fortune is befalling many of the entrants and the only serious contenders and Rebecca and girl-next-door Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst). Amber comes from a trailer trash family (Ellen Barkin plays her mother), and works making up dead bodies at the local funeral home. A young Brittany Murphy and Amy Adams also star.The film is well written, finding a good blend of darkness and humour and always keeping a light tone, which is the key to the film's charm. Some scenes verge on being brilliant and the performances, particularly Kirstie Alley, are all first rate.While the film can be enjoyed on multiple viewings, it's not really the type you watch over and over, which also would have counted against it as an appealing VHS purchase.Fun, dark and well made, Drop Dead Gorgeous is well worth tracking down.

This could have been really awesome, but in the end, Drop Dead Gorgeous is the kind of movie that happens when people who don't really know anything about a subject decide to make a satire about it. Given that the focus of the movie, beauty pageants, is so deserving of ridicule, the script for this film is woefully unfunny or interesting. Further, the writers do a poor imitation of Fargo by casting every character as an imbecile with a Minnesota accent -- it just doesn't work. I've seen worse films -- but not too many more. I laughed out loud maybe twice, giggled on six occasions, and looked at my watch over two dozen times, especially in the last 30 minutes.

I just watched this again for the first time in a few years. And it is even more hilarious than I remembered. The script is wicked, creating satire that assaults the senses like a baseball bat to the gut. The cast is perfect. Just about everyone delivers an inspired performance, and there are too many to talk about all of them. But the least likely is worth mentioning. Denise Richards is brilliant as a born-to-be beauty queen, the daughter of the local pageant manager, played by Kirstie Alley. Her "talent" performance is the dark highlight of the movie, so ridiculously over-the-top that that you may feel the need to wince. Try not to. If you close your eyes for even a moment, you'll miss something.Brittany Murphy also deserves a special mention. She plays a goofy, good-natured contestant in what would be a throw-away role for many actors. But Murphy brings a charm and commitment that makes it work. And she is rewarded with what I think is the best line in the movie.