Before tuning into this garbage, I didn't know much about this movie at all. I actually had thoughts that "BEAUTIFUL" might be like "DROP DEAD GORGEOUS" or "MISS CONGENIALITY". Unfortunately, this boring and witless tripe was nothing like those movies and in fact turned out to be one of the worst movies that I have ever seen.
Many reviewers have suggested that this is a 'movie for women'. I find that to be highly ignorant and extremely biased. Many films that have been labeled 'chick flicks' I have thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, "BEAUTIFUL" is so disappointing in many aspects that I am sure that there are plenty of females out there who would also agree and admit that this movie was nothing short of being simply awful.
The biggest foible here was casting Minnie Driver in the lead role. A film about beauty pageants and beauty queens is not something that should be associated with Minnie Driver. Yes, it is a terrible thing to say, but if this movie wants to be realistic at all, Sally Field should have cast someone else who actually might look like they could crack the top 20 finalists at their local County Fair (let alone win a nationwide Beauty Pageant). We see her life through her eyes as a teenager as the film begins. She lives in Illinois, complete with trailer-trash parents and a 'hick' accent that would make Cousin Cletus blush with envy. She has some sort of obsession with beauty pageants and the need to be 'physically beautiful' when in fact she is nothing more than a plain-Jane wallflower. The person she portrays is very unattractive and unlikeable. She sabotages other contestants who participate in the same pageants as she does and she is constantly rude to her mother who does nothing less than to try and look out for her.
As she grows up, she becomes more selfish in nature and character and completely despicable. The most ridiculous part about this sudden 'transformation' is that Minnie Driver looks entirely different from the girl that we saw as teenager and her attempts to disguise her 'British' accent by putting on a fraudulent 'Mid-Western drawl' is nothing short of embarrassing and distracting. Her obsession with winning a beauty pageant has become her life-long dream and desire and she will stop at nothing in making it become a reality. In fact, her illegitimate daughter, (obnoxiously played by Hallie Eisenberg) is brought up by her best friend just so her 'dream' won't be sabotaged by the fact that she is her birth mother.
"BEAUTIFUL" goes up and down on the emotional scale from hereon in. The film isn't sure exactly what it wants to be - a black comedy perhaps, or a sentimental drama? You get so lost within the awkward timing of the events that take place in the movie, the intended audience reaction that should correspond with each incident gets the opposite effect. For example, at one point in the movie, the subject of pedophilia is examined as her drunken step-father puts the moves on her in the middle of night to which she responds by blowing a whistle and having the father falling back onto the vanity as if it were some comical misfire. Another moment would include an incident where her best friend is arrested on murder charges for assisting in the suicide of an elderly patient at the hospital where she works - when she is dragged away in handcuffs, the only emotional reaction given by both Minnie and Hallie is to bicker over the fact that the two don't want to live with each other! Never mind that their friend could be facing a life sentence or the death penalty if convicted!!
It is scenes like that where the audience feel like they're being taken for fools. Some truly ridiculous scenes would include Minnie Driver pushing a pregnant woman going into labor down the road in a shopping cart (!!!) and an outrageous incident involving a poor beauty pageant contestant getting her hands and arms severely burned by a sabotaged baton who then gets drenched with fire extinguisher foam being held by none other than Minnie Driver!
When the supposed 'black comedy' passes, the film takes a turn into sentimental territory where Minnie Driver realizes the 'true meaning' of being 'Beautiful' and what she must do to achieve it. I kept waiting for Bill Cosby to appear at the end of the movie to tell us what the 'moral of the story' was.
The only delight I got out of seeing "BEAUTIFUL" was the appearance of Ms Kathleen Turner as the head of a local beauty pageant organization... other than that, this film completely misfired in every single direction it turned. In the end, "BEAUTIFUL" came off as being completely trite and painstakingly boring. For the most part, I felt sorry for Sally Field - to have this credited under her Directing duties to be followed by an acting turn in 2001's "SAY IT ISN'T SO" - this is all she has to show for her TWO Oscar wins? Good grief!
Two big thumbs down! - 2 out of 10
Many reviewers have suggested that this is a 'movie for women'. I find that to be highly ignorant and extremely biased. Many films that have been labeled 'chick flicks' I have thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, "BEAUTIFUL" is so disappointing in many aspects that I am sure that there are plenty of females out there who would also agree and admit that this movie was nothing short of being simply awful.
The biggest foible here was casting Minnie Driver in the lead role. A film about beauty pageants and beauty queens is not something that should be associated with Minnie Driver. Yes, it is a terrible thing to say, but if this movie wants to be realistic at all, Sally Field should have cast someone else who actually might look like they could crack the top 20 finalists at their local County Fair (let alone win a nationwide Beauty Pageant). We see her life through her eyes as a teenager as the film begins. She lives in Illinois, complete with trailer-trash parents and a 'hick' accent that would make Cousin Cletus blush with envy. She has some sort of obsession with beauty pageants and the need to be 'physically beautiful' when in fact she is nothing more than a plain-Jane wallflower. The person she portrays is very unattractive and unlikeable. She sabotages other contestants who participate in the same pageants as she does and she is constantly rude to her mother who does nothing less than to try and look out for her.
As she grows up, she becomes more selfish in nature and character and completely despicable. The most ridiculous part about this sudden 'transformation' is that Minnie Driver looks entirely different from the girl that we saw as teenager and her attempts to disguise her 'British' accent by putting on a fraudulent 'Mid-Western drawl' is nothing short of embarrassing and distracting. Her obsession with winning a beauty pageant has become her life-long dream and desire and she will stop at nothing in making it become a reality. In fact, her illegitimate daughter, (obnoxiously played by Hallie Eisenberg) is brought up by her best friend just so her 'dream' won't be sabotaged by the fact that she is her birth mother.
"BEAUTIFUL" goes up and down on the emotional scale from hereon in. The film isn't sure exactly what it wants to be - a black comedy perhaps, or a sentimental drama? You get so lost within the awkward timing of the events that take place in the movie, the intended audience reaction that should correspond with each incident gets the opposite effect. For example, at one point in the movie, the subject of pedophilia is examined as her drunken step-father puts the moves on her in the middle of night to which she responds by blowing a whistle and having the father falling back onto the vanity as if it were some comical misfire. Another moment would include an incident where her best friend is arrested on murder charges for assisting in the suicide of an elderly patient at the hospital where she works - when she is dragged away in handcuffs, the only emotional reaction given by both Minnie and Hallie is to bicker over the fact that the two don't want to live with each other! Never mind that their friend could be facing a life sentence or the death penalty if convicted!!
It is scenes like that where the audience feel like they're being taken for fools. Some truly ridiculous scenes would include Minnie Driver pushing a pregnant woman going into labor down the road in a shopping cart (!!!) and an outrageous incident involving a poor beauty pageant contestant getting her hands and arms severely burned by a sabotaged baton who then gets drenched with fire extinguisher foam being held by none other than Minnie Driver!
When the supposed 'black comedy' passes, the film takes a turn into sentimental territory where Minnie Driver realizes the 'true meaning' of being 'Beautiful' and what she must do to achieve it. I kept waiting for Bill Cosby to appear at the end of the movie to tell us what the 'moral of the story' was.
The only delight I got out of seeing "BEAUTIFUL" was the appearance of Ms Kathleen Turner as the head of a local beauty pageant organization... other than that, this film completely misfired in every single direction it turned. In the end, "BEAUTIFUL" came off as being completely trite and painstakingly boring. For the most part, I felt sorry for Sally Field - to have this credited under her Directing duties to be followed by an acting turn in 2001's "SAY IT ISN'T SO" - this is all she has to show for her TWO Oscar wins? Good grief!
Two big thumbs down! - 2 out of 10