Kirstie Alley delivers a majestic turn as Gladys. It’s the film’s stellar cast that proves to be its greatest asset. I can imagine something like this film perhaps being a multi-episode series on a fledgling streaming service, but its $10.5 million budget feels like a work of fiction.ĭrop Dead Gorgeous joins the pantheon of camp classics under-appreciated upon its release and derided by critics. It is simply too absurd, dark, and low budget to survive what the film industry has become. Upon revisiting the film, what is most glaringly apparent is that this film would not be made now. An array of girls, including the late great Brittany Murphy and Amy Adams, suffer the often-fatal consequences of the Leemans’ desperate bids for glory. She faces competition/ imminent assassination from Kirstie Alley’s maniacal Gladys Leeman, former title holder and mother to Becky, Amber’s rival played by Denise Richards. This faux doc follows Amber Atkins, played impeccably by 90s staple Kirsten Dunst, a trailer trash teenager desperate to win the ‘Sarah Rose Cosmetics Mount Rose American Teen Princess Pageant’ held in Mount Rose, Minnesota. But therein lies the beauty of Drop Dead Gorgeous, an indisputable gem in the camp cult classic crown. You may assume there would be no space for a dark pageant mockumentary in which contestants are murdered in this pop culture landscape. The late nineties were teen-comedy heaven: the likes of 10 Things I Hate About You, She’s All That, and Bring It On became enormous cultural milestones.
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We were transfixed by this grossly inappropriate, savage take on pageantry, adorned with one-liners we quote to this day: ‘They remade my belly with skin from my butt!’. This was a late broadcast, which should have been a red (white and blue) flag that what we were about to witness was not your average coming of age tale of girl does- good. I remember watching Drop Dead Gorgeous with my brother in our bedroom on Channel 4. Much darker more sequins this month we pay homage to Drop Dead Gorgeous. Last issue, we inducted the legendary Auntie Mame, and joining the heart-warming technicolour classic is a film that feels radically different.
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The (Not) Gay Movie Club presents cinema classics that have captured the hearts of queer audiences, even if against the intention of the filmmakers. Cult movies that embody camp, the absurd, glamour and otherness always find their audience, even (or especially) the box office bombs. To fans of Brokeback Mountain, you may wish to sit this one out: this is not the feature for you.