Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

A small town beauty pageant turns deadly as it becomes clear that someone will go to any lengths to win.

Director:

Michael Patrick Jann

Writer:

Lona Williams

Stars:

Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kirsten Dunst	...	Amber Atkins
Ellen Barkin	...	Annette Atkins
Allison Janney	...	Loretta
Denise Richards	...	Rebecca 'Becky' Ann Leeman
Kirstie Alley	...	Gladys Leeman
Sam McMurray	...	Lester Leeman
Mindy Sterling	...	Iris Clark
Brittany Murphy	...	Lisa Swenson
Amy Adams	...	Leslie Miller
Laurie A. Sinclair	...	Michelle Johnson (as Laurie Sinclair)
Shannon Nelson	...	Tess Weinhaus
Tara Redepenning	...	Molly Howard
Sarah Stewart	...	Jenelle Betz
Alexandra Holden	...	Mary Johanson
Brooke Elise Bushman	...	Tammy Curry

Storyline

In a small Minnesota town, the annual beauty pageant is being covered by a TV crew. Former winner Gladys Leeman wants to make sure her daughter follows in her footsteps. Explosions, falling lights, and trailer fires prove that. As the Leemans are the richest family in town the police are pretty relaxed about it all. Despite everything, main rival (but nice) Amber Atkins won't be stopped. There could well be more death and disappointment to come.

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Plot Keywords:

beauty pageant | small town | mental retardation | fake documentary | miss america song spoof | 

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Taglines:

The battle between the good and the bad is bound to get ugly.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for irreverent and crude humor, sex-related material and language

Details

Official Sites:

New Line Official site

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 July 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dairy Queens

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Village, Lakeville, Minnesota, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£465,730 (UK) (17 September 1999)

Gross:

£1,260,142 (UK) (1 October 1999)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Capella International, KC Medien

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Film Debut of Amy Adams.

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Goofs

When Rebecca walks on stage for the Mount Rose pageant winners announcement, she has nothing in her hands. While the runners up are being announced, she suddenly is holding a small gold trophy (there is no explanation as to what this trophy is). When Gladys announces Rebecca is the winner and she steps forward to take be crowned, the small trophy has vanished, without there being time for her to put it down.

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Quotes

[all the contestants are vomiting]
Loretta: [to her lover] Did they hear us?

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Crazy Credits

(referencing Hank's request to be freed from the car door) It is the policy of the documentary crew to remain true observers and not interfere with its subjects.

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Connections

Spoofs Soylent Green (1973)

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Soundtracks

"Can't Take My Eyes Off You"
Written by Bob Crewe & Bob Gaudio

User Reviews

Most smartest and funniest American film since The Producers

This is a seriously funny film, deeply subversive and a great piece of work. What it's not is a satire on the vacuousness of beauty pageants.

DDG aims at the emptiness of our whole materialistic culture and the way we have traded in the more valuable things in life for the pursuit of a perfect self image and will even cash in that perverted, limited objective for a few minutes of fame on TV. Life is a house of cards with hidden truths under every shiny surface.

The humour is so dense and the jokes are so profligately thrown around that it occasionally feels like an incarnation of The Simpsons, 54 episodes of which benefited from the efforts of DDG scriptwriter Lona Williams. She may have written your favourite. The performances are no less praiseworthy with outstanding leads and fabulous and memorable minor characters. Look out for the Sheriff. Amongst them all, I'll single out two which I think are pitch perfect, Sam McMurray as the ruthless father in thrall to his wife and daughter and Nora Dunn as the drunken 'has it come to this?' State Pageant organiser. There are lots of others to choose from.

Every you time you watch you get something new, enabling you to rejoice further in the fact that half the people who watch it don't get any of it at all. In fact it's so sharp that even people who like this type of thing can get cut to pieces by it. We are, after all, watching ourselves. Mind your fingers . . .

Most smartest and funniest American film since The Producers? Yes, it's THAT good.