This movie purports
to be a documentary of small town beauty pageants. In reality, it is a black comedy full
of ugly twists. The heroine, however, is a sweet natured girl who works as a
mortician’s assistant, lives in a trailer with a hard edged but likeable mother, and
wants to use her victory to launch a career as a news anchor, ala Dianne Sawyer. Although
the rightful winner, she is opposed by a mother-daughter team bent on snatching the crown
for a shallow, but gorgeous daughter. Coming from the wealthiest family in town, the
opponents fix the results, make the rules, and ruthlessly dispose of any threats. The
ultimate result surprises us with interesting and unexpected twists.
The movie is not really dark enough to warn or terrify us about our flaws of vanity and
ruthlessness, nor really comedic enough to allow us to identify with the characters and
laugh at ourselves and them for our common human foibles. Still, we had quite a few good
giggles.
