It was preview frenzy in my town recently. On the one night you could go see
eXistenZ, Fight Club, Drop Dead Gorgeous and a fourth film I didn't know
anyone going to so I have forgotten its name. Everyone was running around
with their invitations, finding cinemas, trading passes and deciding which
was more worthy of their time. I wanted to see a comedy other than a teen
comedy, but that didn't happen so I found myself watching a comedy about a
teen beauty pageant. The beauty pageant always seems like a bizarre event to
me. It consists of girls with outlandish hair (the frizzier the better) too
much makeup (one mustn't see the real skin), unflattering bathing costumes
and lots of cellotape to hold everything in place. It seems strange that one
of America's major obsessions is not parodied on the big screen more often.
I suppose that when reality is so crazed, how do you ridicule it?
Ever watched a documentary on beauty pageants? Obsessed parents,
nervous/desperate/frustrated teens, ridiculous rivalry, bribery, scandals,
lecherous/biased judges, etc. There is all that plus more in this film.
In a small Minnesota town, home of America's oldest living Lutheran, the
annual beauty pageant is underway. This film is a mockumentary where we meet
the contestants, their parents and the judges and follow the local winner to
the state and national pageants. The contestants are perhaps a little more
motivated to win than in real life because not long after the pageant is
underway, the entrants who look like winning start dying. Throughout the
movie we see how the pageant is structured, how the teenagers prepare and,
more importantly, we see how the process is being corrupted to predetermine
the outcome. The film is packed with jokes, the main targets being Christian
values and American pride, two of my pet hates.
The central characters are Denise Richards and Kirnst Dunst. Denise Richards
is high profile at the moment thanks to a role in The World Is Not Enough, the latest James Bond extravaganza, and she is also riding high in my popularity stakes after her performances in Starship Troopers and Wild Things. Denise is touted as one of the sexiest women in Hollywood, for the moment anyway. I don't find her
attractive, but at least she is not blonde, which seems to be a positive
trend in the U.S. at present nonblonde sex symbols. Let's hear it for dark
hair. Yeah! Who do I find attractive you wonder? Watch the previous James
Bond film and cheer for Michelle Yeoh with me.
Kirnst Dunst is the girl next door character who practises her makeup skills
in the local funeral home. She is honest, caring, and is the town favourite
to win but the odds are against her in the form of Denise Richards. Denise
is the spoiled, little rich girl, who everyone knows is going to win because
of her parents. Denise plays the daughter of Kirstie Alley, former pageant
winner, current pageant organiser, and wife of the town's must successful
business person. Kirstie is an actor I find tiresome, but her annoying
personality suits her role in this film. She is most suited to the role of a
straightlaced, obsessive parent.
In contrast, Ellen Barkin is an actor I like who never seems to land roles
worthy of her talent. She does comedy well and her dry sense of humour
(whatever that means) adds an edge (another strange term) to the film. Ellen
is trailer park trash, she drinks too much, smokes too much, but just wants
her daughter (Kirnst) to have what she didn't. Which is basically to escape
from the town.
The cast in general is good, all are convincing as repressed, small town
folk. The three judges are particularly entertaining, which is not to say
the police and the Mayor are not . When the locals come out for the parade I
was scared. Were those real rednecks or just convincing extras? I could not
live in such a place. Adam West has an amusing, early cameo and is
referenced in an interesting light later in the film. There are lots of
small jokes and references which I will leave for you to find.
Remember the play that Wednesday and Pugsley perform in the first Addams
Family movie which set a new standard in cinema? It was great and the talent
competition in Drop Dead Gorgeous keeps the standard high. The reigning
queen, now hospitalised for anorexia does a sterling song number, Denise's
song and dance routine brought a tear to my eye, and I was moved by the
emotional, Soylent Green monologue by another contestant.
I never expected a film of this style to be mentally challenging, but as a
diversion from seriousness (if you suffer from such an affliction) it works.
Many comedies cannot sustain the pace for their length. Some, like American
Pie, start well enough, but eventually the jokes stop and the story becomes
serious. Others, like Something About Mary, have some marvellous pieces but
they are linked by lengthy segments of banality. Drop Dead Gorgeous is fun
all the way, not all the jokes worked but I laughed, I smiled, and I
grimaced. It's very silly and has its share of crass humour, which is so popular at
present, as well as clever dialogue which raises it above so many other
comedies.
Drop Dead Gorgeous makes some pretty obvious points, but thankfully there is no preachy moral tacked onto this movie. It starts, we laugh, it finishes, we go home. Forget serious art, not every
film has to be worthy of an indepth analysis. Being boring is a worse crime
than being bad. Most of the great, serious films are dull, most of the
extremely popular films are dull. Drop Dead Gorgeous is not dull. The film
is not meant to be Battleship Potemkin. All worship the ridiculous! Praise
the ludicrous! Destroy the mundane.
sebastian niemand
comments? email the author
reviews | features | archive
toto :: cinema matters