Drop Dead Gorgeous 3 and 1/2 Stars (Out of 4) Reviewed by Mac VerStandig critic@moviereviews.org http://www.moviereviews.org October 17, 1999 Available for Rental - December 14, 1999
Drop Dead Gorgeous is a sick and demented film. The jokes are so crude and inappropriate that you wonder whether or not the filmmakers have any values whatsoever (They even take cracks at young beauty pageants in the wake of the Jonbenet Ramsey scandal). The characters seem to be plastic, with no depth, but rather stereotypes guiding their every move. So will people hate this nauseating and disgusting outrage? At the very least it will cause two parts of the mind to go to war. First there is the well-taught, manner-minding, and always polite sub-conscious that your mother so valiantly programmed into you. Second you have the immature residue that lingers deep in the realms of your mind from your teenage days, still occasionally snickering at "retard" jokes. The latter will prevail, creating heaps of laughter and putting a smile on your face- no matter how undeserved .
If you thought that this summer's other fake documentary was too scary for your taste, this film may well fill the void. The crew of Drop Dead Gorgeous consists of two men sent to Mount Rose, Minnesota, small town USA. Annually, four people get to make "the biggest decisions of their lives" when they judge the local beauty pageant. Other than that, things are as Fargonian as they come: The accents are heavy and the big cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis lie not too far in the distance, but the town hardware store ranks far above the Mall of America on the locals' lists.
In Mount Rose, there is one family that seems to have all the money, the Leemans. Lester (Sam McMurray), the father, owns the local furniture store and has a particular hatred of Jews. Gladys (Kirstie Alley), the mother, is president of several town committees and, most importantly, is a former winner of the beauty pageant. Becky (Denise Richards), the daughter, follows in her mother's footsteps and, if Gladys gets her way, will be the next winner of the pageant. So just how far will Gladys go to get her way? Well, I never said that this movie didn't have a higher body count than that other fake documentary.
At the other end of the extreme spectrum lays the Atkins family (for all the hilarious diet jokes in the film, the potential humor that could come from this last name is passed by). This mother-daughter duo lives in a trailer, almost always accompanied by Loretta (Allison Janney), a friend. Amber (Kirsten Dunst), the daughter, works two jobs trying to support her mother (Ellen Barkin), and hopes to one day leave Mount Rose for a better life. Her ticket out: The pageant.
The old rule of the two biggest characters facing off at film's end holds true, but only after we meet some of the other pageant players. This is where the immature, yet hilarious, jokes pour on: a retarded judge, a perverted judge, a girl who speaks sign language and English simultaneously, a sex addict, and tons of stereotypical high school ditzes.
We are told early in Drop Dead Gorgeous that Mount Rose doesn't have any back rooms in its video stores. That comes most ironically as this film is a guilty pleasure, to put it lightly. I could draw comparisons between this film's pleasures and those of another movie involving an outsider entering a town (her name was Debbie, the town was Dallas), but this is a family review.
Editor's note: Following last week's "Editor's Note" on the MPAA, Moviereviews.org will now make this a regular section. Following all full length reviews, a paragraph or more will be added commenting on how the MPAA and its president, Jack Valenti, dealt with the film at hand. Hopefully this will help expose the many wrongs with that group.
Drop Dead Gorgeous is rated PG-13, meaning that tickets can be sold to anyone and a mild parental advisory is issued to all those with kids under 13. Before the credits role, the audience is treated to the following violations of common decency:
a.. People being burned alive b.. Several acts of pre-meditated violence and murder c.. Curse words being flung about freely d.. Numerous people vomiting e.. A girl dancing in a provocative manner with a statue of Jesus. f.. Conversations about breast enlargements g.. A general theme of sex and violence
Kirsten Dunst recently appeared in Wag the Dog, a film rated R (No children under 17 without a parent or guardian). Drop Dead Gorgeous easily has more violence and sexual innuendo than Wag the Dog. I didn't count, but I would guess the curse words are a draw between the two films. So why the heavier rating for Wag the Dog? I don't know. Perhaps Jack Valenti does.
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