Drop Dead Gorgeous

Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) is a dark comedy directed by Michael Patrick Jann — watch it online on iFILM. Mount Rose, Minnesota, is hosting its annual teen beauty pageant, and a documentary crew has arrived to capture it all. What they capture instead is a string of accidents, fires, and explosions that keep hitting the same contestants.

Kirsten Dunst plays Amber Atkins, a kind-hearted girl from the wrong side of town who tap-dances on a mortician's table and genuinely wants to win on her own merit. Her chief rival, Becky Leeman (Denise Richards), has the advantage of a wealthy, win-at-any-cost mother — Ellen Barkin as Gladys Leeman, the reigning local queen who handed her crown to no one. The mockumentary format does most of the work: interview confessions and handheld footage turn a cast of small-town grotesques into people you keep watching.

Both Amy Adams and Brittany Murphy appear in early roles. The film slipped by at the box office in 1999 but has since quietly earned a devoted cult following — the satire on midwestern respectability and pageant culture hits with the kind of precision that ages surprisingly well. Stream Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) full movie online on iFILM.