Thought about this movie from 1999 for a few weeks now since the main plot feels kind of true for reality tv, contests, and game shows today at times. I'll tell you a bit later in this review and you'll know what I'm saying. This movie is a black comedy mockumentary about this Minnesota town and it's high school Beauty pageant it's going to have. Only a handful show up and along the way someone tries to kill off the contestants one by one.
One of the contestants is a young Kirsten Dunst before the Spider-man movies. Another is this anorexic girl from last years contest in some hospitals eating disorders ward. People in this movie keeps saying if they're on Cops which is a bit of a joke in the end. Near the end when it's found out who was killing all these girls it's a bit shocking. Then there's the pageant State finals and most of the contestants get food poisoning and there's this big scene of all the other contestants throwing up. Kirstin Dunst ends up winning since she didn't eat the food there.
At the end where the winners of this pageant go to this make up place that promoted the beauty pageant. Sadly the make up place was shut down after problems with tax evasion around the time of the documentary, permanently. Then all the other contestants go crazy and attack the building but Kirstin Dunst just gets back on the bus, showing self control and being calm through it all. Then the movie explains what happened to the runner up in the pageant, the killer, and Kirstin Dunst, then it ends.
What really gets me is not only the dark humor, how overly competitive people can be, and it's also PG-13. The story also felt a bit realistic since a lot of people in these contests, reality tv, and even game shows can be overly competitive even though it's just a contest. They have other accomplishments and stuff to fall back on if they lose this and it isn't important. You can give this a watch on Hulu since it popped up recently and is considered to have a cult following.
One of the contestants is a young Kirsten Dunst before the Spider-man movies. Another is this anorexic girl from last years contest in some hospitals eating disorders ward. People in this movie keeps saying if they're on Cops which is a bit of a joke in the end. Near the end when it's found out who was killing all these girls it's a bit shocking. Then there's the pageant State finals and most of the contestants get food poisoning and there's this big scene of all the other contestants throwing up. Kirstin Dunst ends up winning since she didn't eat the food there.
At the end where the winners of this pageant go to this make up place that promoted the beauty pageant. Sadly the make up place was shut down after problems with tax evasion around the time of the documentary, permanently. Then all the other contestants go crazy and attack the building but Kirstin Dunst just gets back on the bus, showing self control and being calm through it all. Then the movie explains what happened to the runner up in the pageant, the killer, and Kirstin Dunst, then it ends.
What really gets me is not only the dark humor, how overly competitive people can be, and it's also PG-13. The story also felt a bit realistic since a lot of people in these contests, reality tv, and even game shows can be overly competitive even though it's just a contest. They have other accomplishments and stuff to fall back on if they lose this and it isn't important. You can give this a watch on Hulu since it popped up recently and is considered to have a cult following.