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Beautiful

2000, Movie, PG-13, 112 mins

Beautiful: Review

BEAUTIFUL
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Frankly, it doesn't sound promising: Minnie Driver (whose looks are, shall we say, a matter of taste) as a would beauty queen so driven that she fobs off her illegitimate daughter (Hallie Kate Eisenberg, the annoying tyke from the Pepsi commercials) onto her saintly best friend (Joey Lauren Adams) to preserve her reputation. Well, knock us over with a tiara, but first-time director Sally Field has actually made a likeable movie out of all that; imagine a larger-than-life, more emotional version of SMILE and you wouldn't be far off. Jon Bernstein's ambitious scrip juggles all sorts of disparate elements that shouldn't really hang together: ROCKY-style uplift; chick-flick tearjerking; a clear-eyed, funny/ghastly look at being blue collar in America; a sly satire of the whole beauty pageant culture. But somehow, despite one disturbing but mercifully brief suggestion of sexual abuse, it more or less coheres. Meanwhile, Field turns out to have both a terrific way with actors — even the kid's good, and there are priceless cameos by Kathleen Turner and Michael McKean — and a pretty solid visual sense. Her handling of the climactic Miss American Miss contest is actually quite virtuosic. The biggest surprise, however, is Driver's singing in the talent competition; the heretofore unsuspected vocalist turns in a performance of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" that's simultaneously tacky, vulgar and drop dead gorgeous. No kidding: This segment alone is worth the price of admission. leave a comment --Steve Simels
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