Drop Dead Gorgeous, the 1999 mockumentary-style black comedy with an absolutely stacked cast, is currently streaming on Paramount Plus as part of the streamer’s October update. Before the update, the film had only been available for rent or purchase, but Paramount subscribers can now watch as part of their plan, with prices starting at $7.99 per month.
Despite the fact that the film centers on a teen beauty pageant in the midwest, it is decidedly nothing like the lighthearted teen movies that were a staple of the late ’90s. The comedy is blisteringly dark, with more outrageous twists and turns than you can shake a murder weapon at. This is why Drop Dead Gorgeous is still loved by fans more than 25 years later.
But for those thinking of watching for the first time, we’ll break down everything you need to know about the movie.
What is Drop Dead Gorgeous about?
Set in the fictional town of Mount Rose, Minnesota, Drop Dead Gorgeous centers on an annual local qualifying teen beauty pageant for the national Sarah Rose Cosmetics American Teen Princess Pageant.
When the film picks up, there are two frontrunners in the pageant. The first is 17-year-old Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst), a low income student who lives in a trailer park with her single mother Annette (Ellen Barkin) and works at the local funeral home doing hair and makeup on cadavers.
The second is Rebecca Ann “Becky” Leeman (Denise Richards), who comes from the most affluent family in town, and whose mother, Gladys Leeman (Kirstie Alley), is the head organizer of the pageant and a former winner.
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However, in the days leading up to the pageant, mysterious accidents and deaths begin occurring around town, starting with all-star student Tammy Curry (Brooke Elise Bushman). Before getting killed when her threshing machine explodes, Tammy was set to compete in the pageant, and also conveniently beat out Becky Leeman for president of the local Lutheran Sisterhood Gun Club.
Despite the so-called accidents, the pageant goes on as planned, with only a few hitches. But even after a winner is eventually crowned, it’s not the end of the story, which features a jaw-dropping aftermath leading up to a shocking ending.
Who stars in Drop Dead Gorgeous?
In addition to Dunst, Richards, Alley, and Barkin, Drop Dead Gorgeous boasts a murderer’s row of talent, pun intended, in a star-studded ensemble cast.
The other contestants include Brittany Murphy as Lisa Swenson, who has big dreams of following in her gay brother’s footsteps to New York City, and in her first ever film role, Amy Adams as cheerleader Leslie Miller. Allison Janney also stars as Loretta, Amber and Annette’s trailer park neighbor.
Prolific character actor Sam McMurray (The King of Queens, Raising Arizona) plays Lester Leeman, husband and father to Gladys and Becky, and owner of the local furniture store. Mindy Sterling (Austin Powers) stars as Iris Clark, Glady’s right-hand woman in organizing the pageant.
Meanwhile, Michael McShane (Office Space) plays one of the pageant”s judges, Harold Vilmes, while Will Sasso (Mad TV), in a role he would probably rather forget, plays Harold’s mentally incompetent brother Hank.
Finally, Nora Dunn (Saturday Night Live) and Mo Gaffney (Absolutely Fabulous) play state judges, while Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!) appears as the voice of one of the documentarians, and Adam West stars as himself.
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Was Drop Dead Gorgeous considered to be a good movie?
Commercially, Drop Dead Gorgeous was a failure at the box office, grossing just $10.6 million in the United States and Canada, on a budget of $15 million. Reviews at the time were also middling, and the movie has just a 47 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes against a comparatively fresh 75 percent audience score.
However, as the movie became available on VHS and DVD and people began discovering it, Drop Dead Gorgeous eventually cemented itself as a bona-fide cult classic. Janney in particular, whose TV and film credits include The West Wing, American Beauty, and I, Tonya (the latter of which won her an Academy Award), told the AV Club in 2011 that Loretta is the role she’s most recognized for.
“I think I get more people coming up to me saying how much they love that movie than any other thing I’ve done,” Janney said at the time. “Even more than West Wing, I have to say. That movie is a cult classic, and that was a great part.”
“I did a lot of improv in that part, and… It was a long time shooting up there for me,” she continued. “I hung out a lot at the Mall Of America to get that accent down, ’cause that was a hard accent to do right. And I think I got it pretty right. But Ellen Barkin was a dream to work with. Hysterical. Yeah, Loretta’s one that people remember a lot.”
Drop Dead Gorgeous is currently streaming on Paramount Plus and you can watch the trailer here.
