“Drop Dead Gorgeous” (1999) goes to town making fun of beauty pageants like a sugar-infused kid attacking a pinata. Since I know nothing about pageants except from film and TV, and have no sympathy for them based on what little I know, I find “DDG” easy to laugh at.
It’s both lightly and darkly funny – lightly because it’s not interested in real-world grounding, and darkly because nothing is off limits. (It possibly sets a record for use of the R-word, even though only one townie fits that bill.)
“DDG” gets lost in the massive pile of VHSs and DVDs that make up the awesome teen-screen year of 1999. It’s not as biting as “Election” and not as mainstream as “American Pie,” instead finding an idiosyncratic middle ground. It’s not found-footage, but also not a completed faux-umentary. It presages the style of TV’s “The Office.”
Williams writes what she knows
Writer Lona Williams doesn’t have many credits (and one she’d perhaps like everyone to forget is “Sugar & Spice”), but “DDG” comes from the heart. She’s a Minnesotan writing about Minnesotans, and all of the actors – under the direction of sitcom veteran Michael Patrick Jann – lay the accents on thicker than “Fargo.” But they do the exaggeration smoothly, and it’s never the only joke on screen.
“Drop Dead Gorgeous” (1999)
Director: Michael Patrick Jann
Writer: Lona Williams
Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Ellen Barkin
The running plot gag is that in 1995 in Mount Rose, Minn., contestants are dropping like flies in advance of the Teen Princess pageant. The teens are all self-centered, but in a natural way rather than a dark way.
Kirsten Dunst’s Amber Atkins has slightly more brains than average, so she’s aware that she could be targeted for death. This isn’t a murder mystery – it’s obvious that Denise Richards’ Becky Leeman and her mom, contest emcee Gladys (Kirstie Alley), are behind it. Cutaways to the cops’ investigation illustrate that they don’t care to dig too deep.
Amber works as a makeup artist in a morgue, the tile floors of which are ideal for practicing her tap-dancing routine. My first indication that “DDG” is nothing to take seriously is that Amber is smitten with Becky’s flirty boyfriend in one scene and happily putting makeup on his corpse in the next (he’s the victim of an off-screen hunting “accident” in between).
Great cast is in on the joke
The casting is perfect across the board, as Dunst – who would later join TV’s “Fargo” — projects smiley innocence and Richards (as we know from “Starship Troopers”) is excellent at making a wooden stereotype amusing. And we get humorous turns from Brittany Murphy, Amy Adams and others.
“DDG” targets pageants’ ridiculous core – including Amber’s mom’s (Ellen Barkin) obsession with her daughter’s success and the judges’ general boredom (except for Matt Malloy’s John Dough, who is unable to hide his obsession with teen girls when the documentary crew asks a simple question).
Williams’ target expands slightly to the small town, with Allison Janney having fun as Amber’s single aunt who puts moves on every male who crosses her line of sight, including the documentarians. Generally, “DDG” shows Mount Rose life – like a parade down main street – and we chuckle knowingly.
“Drop Dead Gorgeous” is missing the satirical edge of “Election” and the high-concept violence of “Fargo,” but it never announces it’s aiming high. It makes up for a lack of grand ambition with brisk pacing and a consistent sense of absurdity, and it connects on a joke often enough to keep us smiling.