DROP DEAD GORGEOUS RATING: 5 / 10 --> Not a good movie
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The accents and exaggerated stupid characters from FARGO meet a mockumentary type film featuring a black comedy look behind Teen America beauty pageants.
PLOT: A faux documentary film featuring a glimpse behind the scenes of a small Minnesota town's teen beauty contestants and their overly competitive families.
CRITIQUE: Some people may find stupid, over-the-top, stereotyped characters from a small town to be extremely funny, and I myself have been known to subscribe to this group from time to time, but it was obvious from the first frame of this film that its only source of comedy would come from its idiotic characters, goofy accents and ignorant statements. For me, that just wasn't funny! It's unfortunate because the premise of the film seemed ripe for parody with some funny characters brewing within, but for me, only a few chuckles trickled out here and there, but mostly I was shaking my head and thinking "this is just stupid". It didn't help that most of the main characters seemed to go in and our their accents from time to time.
Besides its lack of consistent humor, I also found that the film ran a little too long, had one really exaggerated and unfunny retarded character who was just embarrassing, and many, many missed opportunities, including a flat ending. I did enjoy two smaller characters in the film, one being the father of Denise Richards character and judge#2 with his penchant for "young girls", but overall, most felt tired. Two characters which were way underused were Ellen Barkin, who could've been so much more, and Denise Richards, who appeared to be the star of the film from the look of its trailer, but actually only played a small part within a diverse cast of characters.
Overall, the film didn't do it for me, offering very little in real humor and relying more on the easy, let's make fun of the trailer-trash-folk-type of comedy. And if you're expecting T&A from Richards, forget about it. Any which way you look at it, missed opportunities all around.
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Kirsten Dunst has gone on record as saying that she will remain a virgin until she meets the "right guy", and once dated Dustin Hoffman's son. She also beat out Christina Ricci for roles in INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (8/10) and LITTLE WOMEN. This film is director Michael Patrick Jann's feature debut. This film is also screenwriter Lona Williams' first produced script. She was once first runner up in the National Junior Miss competition. She also plays Judge#3 in this film. Denise Richards stands 5'6", has been nicknamed "Fluffy Girl", and made her feature film debut as Gladys in 1993's LOADED WEAPON. In 1995, Ellen Barkin dated actor David Arquette. She was also married to actor Gabriel Byrne This film was originally titled DAIRY QUEENS.
Review Date: July 24, 1999
Director: Michael Patrick Jann
Writer: Lona Williams
Producers: Judy Hofflund and Gavin Polone
Actors: Denise Richards as Becky Leeman
Kirsten Dunst as Amber Atkins
Kirstie Alley as Gladys Leeman
Ellen Barkin as Annette Atkins
Genre: Comedy
Year of Release: 1999
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
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