Drop Dead Gorgeous is a 1999
Black Comedy Mockumentary about a small town beauty pageant in Minnesota and the murders surrounding it. In much the same vein of
Black Comedy as
Heathers.
Tropes used by the film:
- Alliterative Name: Amber Atkins, Annette Atkins, Lars Larson, Lester Leeman, etc.
- Beauty Contest: Duh
- Betty and Veronica: Amber vs. Becky over Brett.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Becky and Gladys
- Black Comedy
- Brainless Beauty: Leslie
- Brick Joke: "Are we on COPS?"
- Chatty Hairdresser: Annette
- Chekhov's Skill: Becky being a skilled shooter.
- Crapsack World: Mount Rose, Minnesota to be exact.
- Creator Cameo: Judge #3 is writer and producer Lona Williams.
- The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much: The murders are ruled out as accidents. No one is fooled.
- Cute and Psycho: Becky
- Dawson Casting: Various grades. Denise Richards was old enough to be going to her tenth reunion.
- Dirty Old Man: One of the judges.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Tammy's rides on her tractor.
- Dumb Blonde: Leslie. Arguably Annette, although she's more Book Dumb.
- Eccentric Townsfolk
- Evil Matriarch: Gladys Leeman.
- Fluffy Fashion Feathers
- Freak Out: All contestants of the national American Teen Princess Pageant (Save for Amber) go through this when they find out the company has been shut down.
- Generation Xerox: Gladys hopes for one with Becky winning the Mount Rose pageant, as she did before her.
- Groin Attack: A rare female example occurs during dance practice. Poor, poor Tess...
- Hair of Gold: Amber.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The first half of the movie is build-up to the pageant. Then the pageant happens...and there's still a half hour of film left.
- Happily Adopted: Molly.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Amy Adams' film debut; in fact, it was eventual co-star Kirstie Alley who persuaded Adams to go through with her audition when she was having second thoughts. She's now arguably the biggest star of anyone involved with the film to this day. To a lesser extent Brittany Murphy who had already had some exposure from Clueless but had not quite become a 'name' star yet. Also, Alexandra Holden, who may be familiar to a generation too young to get into John Hughes movies, as last year's winner, with a lot of make-up and just plain Acting! to make her look like she's dying of anorexia.
- Hollywood Tone Deaf: Averted - Becky doesn't screech or slide tones randomly, she's just awful at singing.
- Informed Ability: Both subverted and Lampshaded at the same time. Becky's dance is depicted as genuinely awful, despite Gladys' efforts to play up its quality. The subversion comes with Amber's dancing, where most of the complicated routines were performed by a body double. Oddly enough, Kirsten Dunst also began learning tap dance to perform some of the basic sequences herself, and is still tapping more than a decade later.
- Les Yay: Between Amber and Lisa, when Lisa gives up her costume so the former of the two can compete. They even kiss each other on the cheek!
- Love Makes You Crazy: Becky doesn't take it too well when Brett shows an obvious attraction to Amber... so he ends up with a bullet in his head.
- Mockumentary: With a few exceptions the whole movie is shown as a documentary about the beauty contest.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Nice job blowing up your own daughter due to your own carelessness, Mom!
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Gladys's attempt at revenge against Amber inadvertently leads to Amber getting her dream job.
- Pick On Someone Your Own Size: Gladys Leeman eventually develops a major hate-on for the teenage Amber Atkins, her daughter's main rival in the pageant.
- Pinball Protagonist: Amber.
- Pun-Based Title: Murders surrounding a beauty pageant!
- Punny Name: John Dough.
- Quirky Town
- Small Town Boredom: Amber. Really, though, almost everyone hates living in Mount Rose.
- Stage Mom
- Stepford Smiler: Gladys and Becky. Type C, to be exact.
- The Unfavorite: Lisa is implied to be this in her family.
- Villainous Breakdown: Gladys has one after Becky's death.
- Yandere: Also Becky. Boy, she sure doesn't want her boyfriend to look at anyone else...
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue
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