Drop Dead Gorgeous (film)

Drop Dead Gorgeous
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Patrick Jann
Produced by	Gavin Palone
Written by	Lona Williams
Starring	Kirstie Alley Ellen Barkin Kirsten Dunst Denise Richards
Cinematography	Michael Spiller
Edited by	Janice Hampton
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	July 23, 1999 (1999-07-23)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10–15 million
Box office	$10.5 million

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Drop Dead Gorgeous is a 1999 American black comedy film directed by Michael Patrick Jann and starring Kirstie Alley, Ellen Barkin, Kirsten Dunst, Allison Janney, Denise Richards, Brittany Murphy, and Amy Adams in her film debut. Shot in a mockumentary format, it follows the contestants in a beauty pageant called the Sarah Rose Cosmetics Mount Rose American Teen Princess Pageant, held in the small fictional town of Mount Rose, Minnesota, in which various contestants die in suspicious ways.

In 1995, Mount Rose is preparing for its annual beauty pageant. Amber Atkins (Kirsten Dunst) is an optimistic teenager who signs up to compete in the pageant so she can follow in the footsteps of her idols, Diane Sawyer, and her mother, a former contestant. Amber works after school applying makeups to corpses at the mortuary, and lives with her mother, Annette Atkins (Ellen Barkin), in a small trailer near their friend Loretta (Allison Janney). This is in stark contrast to fellow contestant Rebecca ("Becky") Leeman (Denise Richards), the daughter of the richest man in town and his wife, Gladys Leeman (Kirstie Alley), who is the head of the pageant organizing committee and a former winner. Various business connections between the Leeman Furniture Store and the judges of the pageant cause many to speculate that the contest will be rigged or fixed.

Many odd events occur around town during the run-up to the pageant, including the death of a contestant, the athletic and competitive Tammy Curry, who is killed when her tractor explodes, and the death (ruled a hunting accident) of a boy who Becky liked, but who showed himself partial to Amber. Amber decides to pull out of the pageant after her mother is injured in an explosion at their mobile home, but reconsiders and decides to compete to follow her dreams and make her mother proud. At the dress rehearsal, fellow contestant Jenelle Betz swaps numbers with Amber. When Jenelle walks on stage at the beginning of rehearsal, a stage light falls and hits her in the head, knocking her unconscious and rendering her deaf. Luckily, Jenelle is a master of sign language so she claims that despite dropping out of the pageant, she has never been happier.