History Film / DropDeadGorgeous

* InformedAbility: {{Lampshaded}}. Becky's dance is depicted as genuinely awful, despite Gladys' efforts to play up its quality.

** [[spoiler:Gladys's attempt at revenge against Amber inadvertently leads to Amber getting her dream job.]]

%%* BeautyContest: Duh

* ContrivedCoincidence: Everybody at the Minnesota State Finals getting food poisoning, except for Amber.

** Amber isn't as dorky, awkward, dumb, or as backstabbing as the other contestants. [[spoiler:This is made all the more obvious when she gets to Nationals, and the contestants find out that Sarah Rose has been shut down and the pageant has been canceled. The other girls riot and destroy the building, while Amber simply sighs and gets back on the bus.]]

%%* PinballProtagonist: Amber.

** He's not quite villainous, [[spoiler:that's his wife,]] but Lester Leeman is pretty sexist, and throws out racist remarks against Jews, Mexicans, and black people in most of his appearances.

* RemovingTheRival: Being Becky's only real competition [[spoiler:after Tammy's death,]] the entire pageant is so blatantly rigged against Amber, it CrossesTheLineTwice. [[spoiler:After the murder attempt fails,]] her interview is made ten times harder than the other contestants' (she's forced to spell out all fifty states -- in alphabetical order), then during rehearsal a stage light is rigged to fall on her (luckily for her, she switched order placement with Jenelle at the last minute), and then her talent costume is stolen the night of the pageant and Gladys refuses to approve the new one she gets from the choreographer. When all that fails, [[spoiler:it's implied that Gladys [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney bribed the judges]] to get a [[MundaneSolution higher score for Becky]].]]

%%* StageMom
* StepfordSmiler: Gladys and Becky. [[spoiler:The unstable kind.]]

* TheCassandra: The two Goth girls in the school bathroom tell the documentary crew that [[spoiler:Tammy's death]] indicates that more girls will get killed off. [[spoiler:Though none of the other girls in the pageant end up dying (unless you count Becky) one girl is severely injured, another has her home destroyed and her mother hospitalized, and a guy their age dies as collateral damage.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Gladys has one after Becky's death.]]

%%* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue

* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: [[spoiler:After Becky dies, Gladys has a breakdown and shouts this at Amber. Part of it is out of hate and grief, but the rest is implied to be because Amber was supposed to win the contest and Gladys bribed the judges so Becky could win instead.]]

* AdamWesting: Adam West kicks off the first scene.

* OddFriendship: A couple of lines suggest that Amber, a tap dancer and beautician at the mortuary, is friends with athlete and GunNut Tammy Curry. For that matter, with the exception of Becky, all of the girls in the pageant seem to get along well with each other despite their differing personalities and interests. It's justified when one considers how Mount Rose is such a small town and most of the girls grew up together.

* OddFriendship: A couple of lines suggest that Amber, a tap dancer and beautician at the mortuary, is friends with athlete and GunNut Tammy Curry. For that matter, with the exception of Becky, all of the girls in the pageant seem to get along well with each other despite their differing personalities and interests.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Hank is apparently masturbating during one of the Judges' interviews.

* BareYourMidriff: Doesn't go very far, but Amber's shirts are a bit short.

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: The movie is rife with slapstick and the vast majority of those on the receiving end of it are the girls in the pageant; including being blown up on a thresher, swan float, and inside a trailer, being hit in the head with a overhead light, eating tainted shellfish and barfing everywhere, and so on.

* AnvilOnHead: Jenelle [[spoiler: goes deaf after a light is dropped on her during rehearsal]].

** "What IS... Soylent Green?"

* BeautyContest: Duh
* BettyAndVeronica: Amber vs. Becky over Brett. It didn't end well.

* BilingualBonus: The first time we meet Molly's adoptive family, the Howards, their daughter's dialogue in Japanese is not translated. She says: "Dad, Mom, when are we going back to Tokyo? I hate it here, they put butter on EVERYTHING!"
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Becky and Gladys
* BlackComedy

** "What? Oh, my God. Lights, camera, and me without a stitch of makeup on!"

* BrainlessBeauty: Leslie
* BrickJoke: "Are we on Series/{{COPS}}?"
** "Nice one, <person>. You know <other person> is dead!"
* ChattyHairdresser: Annette
* ChekhovsSkill: The first scene at the Lutheran Sisterhood Gun Club has Becky not aiming for the center of the human-shaped target, but rather, for the area right above the target's right eye. [[spoiler: Cue the morgue, and Amber pulls back the cloth to reveal...]]

* CreatorCameo: [[TheVoiceless Judge #3]] is writer and producer [[Series/TheDrewCareyShow Lona]] [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Williams]].

* CuteAndPsycho: Becky

** Leslie stops her interview to makeout with her boyfriend.

* EccentricTownsfolk

* EvilMatriarch: Gladys Leeman.
* TheFakeCutie: Becky.

** The state pageant. The suddenly changed schedule (with no stay at the Hotel Howard Johnson) and [[spoiler: maybe the improperly cooked seafood]] hint that [[spoiler: Sarah Rose Cosmetics is having financial problems. Amber and the other contestants who reach the National level later discover that Sarah Rose has been shut down due to a long history of tax evasion.]]

* FollowInMyFootsteps: {{Averted}}: Annette fears that Amber will turn out just like her and end up spending her entire life in Mount Rose.

* FreakOut: All contestants of the national ''American Teen Princess Pageant'' (save for Amber) go through this when [[spoiler: they find out the company has been shut down.]]
* TheFundamentalist: Downplayed, but still present. While no one character is particularly fundamentalist, we do see that the town's Lutherans are very outspoken about how much more moral and traditional they are than the 'sin cities'. [[{{Hypocrite}} Then all the murders start happening.]]

** At the parade [[spoiler: after the swan explodes]], [[CrossesTheLineTwice one man stands up in the bleachers and applauds]] like he thinks it was intended as part of the show.

* GenkiGirl: Lisa.

* GodwinsLaw: When Amber is told her outfit is too skimpy for the pageant, she says "this is... This is Nazi Germany".

* HairOfGold: Amber.

* IllGirl: Dangerously underweight reigning Miss Mount Rose Mary Johanson, who is in Inpatient, wheelchair bound, and struggles to breathe. It's highly implied her anorexia was triggered by competing in the pageant.
* InformedAbility: {{Lampshaded}} Becky's dance is depicted as genuinely awful, despite Gladys' efforts to play up its quality.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Becky]]

* [[MisterExposition Miss Exposition]]: The cutaway to Iona Hildebrandt, who helpfully explains what lutefisk is.

* NationalStereotypes: The Howards, despite doing everything they can to naturalise themselves to Minnesota, are one Japanese stereotype after another. The only reason there was such close up footage of [[spoiler: Becky's float exploding]] is because the dad [[JapaneseTourist can't put down the video camera.]]

** Nice job [[spoiler: blowing up your own daughter]] due to your own carelessness and crimes, Mom!
** [[spoiler: Gladys's attempt at revenge against Amber inadvertently leads to Amber getting her dream job.]]

* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Girl]]:
** Amber isn't as dorky, awkward, dumb, or as backstabbing as the other contestants. [[spoiler:This is made all the more obvious when she gets to Nationals, and the contestants find out that Sarah Rose has been shut down and the pageant has been canceled. The other girls riot and destroy the building, while Amber simply sighs and gets back on the bus]].

* PinballProtagonist: Amber.

** He's not quite villainous, [[spoiler: that's his wife]], but Lester Leeman is pretty sexist, and throws out racist remarks against Jews, Mexicans, and black people in most of his appearances.

* PrettyLittleHeadshots: [[spoiler: How Brett is killed.]]

* PunnyName: John Dough.
* QuirkyTown
* ReallyGetsAround: Loretta.
* RemovingTheRival: Being Becky's only real competition [[spoiler:after Tammy's death]], the entire pageant is so blatantly rigged against Amber, it CrossesTheLineTwice. [[spoiler:After the murder attempt fails]], her interview is made ten times harder than the other contestants' (she's forced to spell out all fifty states -- in alphabetical order), then during rehearsal a stage light is rigged to fall on her (luckily for her, she switched order placement with Jenelle at the last minute), and then her talent costume is stolen the night of the pageant and Gladys refuses to approve the new one she gets from the choreographer. When all that fails, [[spoiler:it's implied that Gladys [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney bribed the judges]] [[MundaneSolution to get a higher score for Becky]]]].
* RichBitch: Gladys and Becky, the Leemans being the richest family in Mount Rose. [[spoiler: It's implied that Gladys has bought the police off to literally get away with murder.]]

* SpoofAesop: The preacher's eulogy for [[spoiler: Becky]], that the lesson of all this is "Buy American", after a Mexican-made parade float exploded.
* StageMom

* TheCassandra: The two Goth girls in the school bathroom tell the documentary crew that [[spoiler: Tammy's death]] indicates that more girls will get killed off. [[spoiler: Though none of the other girls in the pageant end up dying (unless you count Becky) one girl is severely injured, another has her home destroyed and her mother hospitalized, and a guy their age dies as collateral damage.]]

** Molly's sister.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: Gladys.

* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: [[spoiler:After Becky dies, Gladys has a breakdown and shouts this at Amber. Part of it is out of hate and grief, but the rest is implied to be because Amber was supposed to win the contest and Gladys bribed the judges so Becky could win instead]].

* TheCheerleader: Leslie

* AdultFear: A role reversal of sorts [[spoiler: when Amber learns about her trailer exploding. She rushes home, wondering for a while if she had just been orphaned. Luckily, her mother has survived.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Nice job [[spoiler: blowing up your own daughter]] due to your own carelessness, Mom!
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: Gladys's attempt at revenge against Amber inadvertently leads to Amber getting her dream job.]]