I started laughing at the first scene and didn’t stop until the closing credits. Drop Dead Gorgeous is the funniest movie of 1999 to date. In a year ripe with comedies, that’s saying something I don’t throw hyperbole around. Reminiscent of the hilarious pseudo-documentary "Waiting for Guffman," the key to DDG’s success is the goofy characters in this small town where a teen beauty pageant is being held. My favorite was Allison Janney, playing a character not unlike her riotous Ms. Perky in 10 Things I Hate About You. There’s a lot to watch here. Wacky antics often take place in the background while hilarity simultaneously ensues in the foreground. The result is the sensation of being unmercifully tickled. While part of you is enjoying it, part of you wants it to stop so you can catch a breath. The only minus is the unfortunate inclusion of Kirstie Alley, who graces us with a bad impression of Marge from Fargo and at times distracts from the other actors taking advantage of the wonderful material they are given to work with. Still, this is a very impressive effort and a black comedy which is worth viewing multiple times to catch all the gags. Your sides will be hurting. You have been warned!

This movie has 'Fargo' written all over it. A small town (minnesota) beauty pagent is the setting for most of the action. The importance of the pagent (17 year olds only) is overblown in the minds of the people in the small town. The character development is part of the humor in the story (as in Fargo)and as the movie goes on, you can predict how each of the characters would react in different situations. This is not a detraction however, because the writers throw in some twists (some sick ones too) and you might be ashamed that you're laughing so much.

Kirsty Alley (Cheers) does a (surprising to me) excellent job capturing one of the main roles. She is a former winner of the yearly pagent and now leads the organizing committee. Her daughter is 17 this year and is a favorite in the pagent. They are the wealthiest people in the small town and many do not wish to "cross" them. Things start happening to some of the other contestants while the timeline gets close to the pagent. There is more to it than what I describe, but I don't want to expose any of the twists.

Just a few more notes....You don't really need the big screen for this movie, but it is worth an effort to go see. I thought about giving it the 'see now' rating, but it would play almost as well on video. This is not a teen-age romp (teens may still like it). It is a little lighter than fargo, but the same audiences will enjoy it.

If I were from Minnesota, i would feel pretty awkward watching this movie. It really got no where fast, and i really didn't find one thing of it funny. I think the acting was supposed to be terrible, but the terrible acting was terrible. Everyone had weird accents, and it just didn't do anything. It sort of was a movie that had nothing to do with anything. It portrayed stupid girls that wanted to sign up for some beauty pagent, and then they thought it was a good experience, i dont know , it was bad.

\"Drop Dead Goegeous\" could have been a satire of beauty pageants, what \"This is Spinal Tap\" did to music. the only thing seperating those two films is one is funny and the other\'s isn\'t. This film has wasted stars whose only reason for even being in this film is a paycheck. Gross jokes were thrown in to keep the film afloat. But sadly \"Drop Dead Gorgeous\" has nothing to offer except excuses. The film probaby died before the final credits.