Mercilessly beautiful

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Mercilessly beautiful
Original title Drop Dead Gorgeous
Country of production USA , Germany
original language English
Publishing year 1999
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Michael Patrick Jann
script Lona Williams
production Judy Hofflund ,
Donna Langley ,
Michael Nelson
music Sonny Curtis ,
Mark Mothersbaugh
camera Michael Spiller
cut David Codron ,
Janice Hampton
occupation

Mercilessly beautiful is an American film satire from 1999 , directed by Michael Patrick Jann . Amber Atkins ( Kirsten Dunst ) and Becky Ann Leeman ( Denise Richards ) fight each other in a beauty pageant with all means at their disposal in this satire on the cult of beauty, which takes place in a small-town milieu .

action

As every year, the small town of Mount Rose, Minnesota hosts a beauty pageant. A television team accompanies the candidates every step of the way. One of the favorites to win is Amber Atkins, who lives in a trailer park and wants to use the beauty pageant to get out of Mount Rose and become a television journalist. Her toughest competitor is Becky Leeman, who comes from a very wealthy family, whose mother Gladys won the beauty contest years ago and now wants her daughter to be the winner. Before long, the struggle for the crown of victory takes on increasingly grotesque features: clothes disappear without a trace, headlights fall from the ceiling and vehicles explode. The first deaths are not long in coming.

The television team gets more than enough material: the judges are moronic or perverted, last year's beauty queen suffers from anorexia , and firearms are almost good form at Mount Rose.

When the big day finally comes, Becky takes the win, while Amber only comes in second. But a bizarre accident occurs on the subsequent parade: Becky's float, which is shaped like a huge swan, explodes. Amber then inherits Becky as the beauty queen of Mount Rose, while Becky's mother Gladys suffers a nervous breakdown and confesses in front of the eyes and ears of the whole city to be responsible for the numerous acts of sabotage.

Amber also wins the elimination for Minnesota as she is the only one who has not eaten any contaminated shellfish. The television team now accompanies the beaming winner Amber to the national beauty pageant in Alabama, which however falls through because the company sponsoring the competition has since gone bankrupt due to tax evasion.

With this, Amber's dream of leaving Mount Rose and pursuing a career seems to have failed. But when Gladys breaks out of prison and starts a shooting, Amber steps in for a shot TV reporter and finally gets her job.

For Amber it means “that ends well, all well”, and the television team has produced an interesting documentary.

criticism

“The beauty contest in a fictional small town in the US state of Minnesota serves as the starting point for a highly entertaining and caustic satire about provincial megalomania, the rights of the strong and the marginalization of the weak, and the dogged American pursuit of success. The focus is on the individual candidates and their ambitious parents. In the guise of a supposed documentary film, the film only shows the images that the reporters capture and stubbornly reveal every mishap. "

- Lexicon of international film

“The film draws its charm not only from the meanness, but also from the fact that it turns its bitterly angry story into satire with merciless humor. [...] Conclusion: beautifully merciless "

- Peter Lau : Cinema.de

background

Mercilessly beautiful is shot almost entirely in the style of a documentary film. In truth, of course, everything is purely fictional, making the film a so-called mockumentary .

Screenwriter Lona Williams was able to draw on her own experience for the film, as she was a candidate in beauty pageants herself.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mercilessly beautiful. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed August 19, 2015 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Peter Lau: Mercilessly beautiful. In: Cinema.de . Retrieved August 19, 2015 .