The Stranger Suggests
Film
'Drop Dead Gorgeous' at Central Cinema
Am I the only one who prefers 1999's Drop Dead Gorgeous to any of the faux-documentary works of Christopher Guest? Sure, Michael Patrick Jann's fake beauty-pageant doc falls apart toward the end, but not before it scores several movies' worth of major and thoroughly malevolent laughs. The cast is the key, from a pitch-perfect Kirsten Dunst to a ridiculously hilarious (pre–Hollywood makeover) Brittany Murphy to the faultless Allison Janney. (Central Cinema, 1411 21st Ave, 686-6684. 7 [all ages] and 9:30 pm [21+], $5, Feb 20–23.)
DAVID SCHMADER
Comments
um, david schmader and i are apparently the same person.
That makes three of us. Best. Movie. Ever.
fukkin chick looks like a goblin.
I liked Drop Dead Gorgeous, but then again, I'd watch Kirsten Dunst read the phone book, so that's hardly an unbiased opinion.
Hurrah, thanks for the commiseration.
Also of note (but I didn't have room to hype her in the Suggest): Amy Adams, whose way-before-Enchanted performance as DDG's horny slut girl is amazing. (Especially when contrasted with the cartoon purity she embodied in Enchanted.)
Didn' even get ta keep mah damn tiara... had ta turn it in fer' scrap.
SO WEIRD! 3 friends have talked about this movie recently, and I have never seen it! Now I must!
my bf and i watch it every week. really, we dont intend to, it just happens that way. for years and years and years.
@1 and 2: Count me in.
I use a person's feelings about this movie to determine whether that person will be my friend. It's an exacting standard.
I've almost had to break up with (ex)boyfriends because they've fallen asleep when I screened it for them.
I had no idea that was Amy Adams. I can't believe I didn't know that. Amazing.
The fact that 1, 2, 8, and 9 are actual people makes me feel a whole lot better about humanity in general. People who are indifferent to this movie confuse and disgust me.
If this movie isn't in the Criterion Collection, it should be.
Alabama... A-L-A-B-A-M-A... Alaska... A-L-A-S-K-A... ARKANSAS...
Eh. Christopher Guest isn't as relentlessly mean.
I almost want to organize a dress-up/meet-up for this... sadly I look bad in drag and feel like "mentally challenged guy with his pants unzipped" might be an offensive costume. Still, any takers?
"I got some."
@14: I would totally dress up as a "goddamn lawn dart."
15: Bless you.
Who wants to go with me?
I love that: "relentlessly mean". So true. This movie was written by a pissed-off woman getting her revenge, and you can tell. That's why there's no affection for most of the characters. You can practically hear the screenwriter muttering "... I'll show you, you stupid bastards..." under every scene in the film.
(The writer, Lona Williams, actually appears in the film, as the mousy, constantly mortified secretary of the pageant's sponsor.)
Still, the movie is hilarious, and it is definitely better than anything Christopher Guest has done recently.
Donovan: I had no idea that Kirstie Alley's sidekick was the writer! Thank you for the illumination.
Re; relentlessly mean: Yes, there's no denying the malevolence of the whole movie, but that's where the amazing cast comes to the rescue. The writer may have lacked affection for her characters, but the actors didn't, and the life they bring to their roles (especially Alison Janney and Kirsten Dunst) keeps the whole thing from turning poison.
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