DROP DEAD GORGEOUS (1999)

Cast

Plot

Deliciously malicious mock-documentary, set in America's Midwest, ostensibly following the progress of the 50th Minnesota Miss Teen Princess America Contest. The action centres on the two favourites to win: Becky Leeman (Denise Richards), the archetypal teen queen bitch and daughter of wealthy pageant host Gladys (Kirstie Alley), and Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst), a sweet-natured trailer-park girl who lives with her hard-drinking mother. But Amber's moral superiority and talent for tap-dancing may not be enough to secure the title, because Becky has one big advantage: a murdering mom! When a fellow contestant dies in mysterious circumstances, Amber's suspicions are aroused, but proving it's going to be a different matter. A wonderfully irreverent poke at The American Way.