Touches You

Sorry, this movie sucks

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Don't listen to the negative reviews

This movie is grossly underrated. Will Sasso's Hank alone makes it a comedy classic. Ellen Barkin and Allison Janney are amazing. When Ellen first appears with the beer can fused to her hand, I lost it. The entire town interview scene is just superb. The town pageant from Hank's antics at the car to the conclusion is just perfect. The movie slogs a bit at the end (like the production ran out of money), but what comes before is just golden. Terrific cast, both up and coming - Kirsten Durst, early Brittany Murphy, Denise Richards and experienced actors - Sam McMurray, Mindy Sterling ("Scott!!!), Nora Dunn. Just watch it.

Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999): Dir: Michael Patrick Jann / Cast: Kirstie Alley, Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney: Hilarious satire of beauty pageants and the deadly act of pride as beautiful faces conceal fuming hatred. The girls assemble in front of cameras and discuss their dreams then go through the pains and gains of preparations. Directed by Michael Patrick Jann who has an eye for comic timing and details the film with colourful sets. Kirstie Alley plays a past winner whose motives that are less than honorable. She represents the mother who pushes her daughter into where she once shined in order to relive the memory but her greed leads to downfall. Her daughter is played by Denise Richards who was given a gun and "aims to win" at the pageant. Kirsten Dunst lives in a trailer park with her mother and works at the local morgue. Dunst and Richards are not just at odds within the competition but also competing for the affections of the same male. Ellen Barkin is hilarious as Dunst's mother with a beer can burned into her hand after their trailer suffers an explosion. Allison Janney is also in top comic form as a friend of Barkin's who helps Dunst get preparation. Even the judges are out to lunch in their total lack of knowledge or experience in these events. It presents the false galore of judging physical beauty resulting in a comedy that is drop dead hilarious. Score: 10 / 10

The Spoiler flag relates to the politics of the second half of this comment. I find that I have several DVDs about beauty contests and this 1999 is the earliest and also the one with the lowest quality. Except I still find it rather watchable. An empty 'Gracie Lou Freebush' story (Miss Congeniality) that is very easy to watch. But there is more to it than that. The other stories I have are Miss Congeniality (2000) and Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and episode 2-29 of iCarly disk sets, iWas A Pageant Girl (2010). They all have bits of detail in common with DDG, I found it easy to get the impression that they were all looking to this particular story, but the common factor is likely to be elsewhere. These three also have a certain quality. This also has Brittany Murphy in one of the supporting roles, a contestant, and some will want to watch this just because of that. The cast list can please fans of some others, too. It is still an empty story, but that is not because of the cast and not because of lack of fun detail in the script. * The scrambled nature of the people who populate the world of Drop Dead Gorgeous. It reminds me of what is implied by the story of Donnie Darko, my title of Jim Fixed It comes partly from that. There is not a straight parallel between these stories, but they do have common links. The Chumscrubber (2005) talks about the USA. England has some of that disorder, too. October 2012, the UK has been inundated with horror revelations about another Jim. To write anything to support that particular Jim is to risk life and limb, but the bits that I have noticed make me consider him to be a victim, just as much as any of the characters in Donnie or this feature. Some bits I have read are just simple statements of UK Jim's actions, without actual detail of the actions, and these read like horror, the actions of a really bad guy. When if goes into detail, though, I am reminded of the cures that Tony Blair Witch equivalents have always pointed at the weak. The actions of UK Jim remind me of some of the side effects of this sort of popular field sport. Other actions of UK Jim tell me that he used to be considered as deserving, he got kicked in a way that the deserving grade of inept big babies get kicked, hard knock life. The October 2012 stories are people noticing these side effects and now considering him as meriting being kicked in the way that the undeserving get kicked. The UK Jim should be grateful that he is now physically dead. Drop Dead Gorgeous, if it is an empty 'Gracie Lou Freebush' story, I find it to be about the real world.

This movie always makes me laugh until I'm in tears. My favorite comedy of all time The jokes don't spare anybody in this film. It's an equal opportunity mock fest.The mid-west accents, religious lifestyle one ups man-ship, small town politics, class warfare pettiness, the mundane social life highlights of the VFW, hunting season, funeral buffets, town parades where even the clowns are smoking on the job, are hilarious.This movie has well done comedic timing and the jokes keep rolling along whether seeing the previous queen wheelchair dance with help from her anorexia hospital ward nurse, dog barking talent segments, bizarre monologue interpretations to Soylent Green, sign language dance numbers, back stabbing stage moms, to creepy judges, all facets of pageant life is shown. For those who despise warped humor this film is not for you but for viewers who love to never take life too seriously this movie is great.