Beautiful

"Beautiful" tells of a girl's life-long quest to become a beauty queen with Driver playing the adult version of the central figure. The film begins as a fresh, fun, and creative comedy romp but turns a little too serious in the middle wandering haphazardly into the drama genre while conjuring up a whole bit about a friend (Adams) going to jail which doesn't really serve the theme, plot, or purpose of the film. Nonetheless, it does manage to pull itself together in with a so-so feel good ending. Worth a look for those who don't mind sappy little comedies.

BEAUTIFUL (2000) * Minnie Driver, Joey Lauren Adams, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Leslie Stefanson, Bridgette L. Wilson, Kathleen Turner, Ali Landry, Michael McKean. (Dir: Sally Field) I wish I could say something nice about Sally Field's big screen directorial debut but through no fault of her own (except accepting this god-awful comedy/drama to do just that) the film is a complete disaster.

Mona (Driver, who co-produced with her sister Kate) is a white trash young woman desperately attempting to achieve her life-long desire of becoming a beauty contestant winner of the Miss America pageant and spends the entire length of her life (and the film) in doggedly determined to do just that.

Unfortunately during her quest she gets pregnant and for reasons never fully explained (except the given that she is extremely selfish) has the child raised by her long-suffering best friend, Ruby (Adams), a nurse in an old folks' home, who stands by Mona through thick and thin. Gradually little Vanessa (Eisenberg, the moppet from those Pepsi commercials), begins to put two and two together and when Ruby is suddenly thrown in jail (for murder! Yes the plotting is ridiculous; seems one of her charges was saving up on her daily meds and finally overdosed unbeknownst to Ruby) Mona is faced with her greatest challenge: facing her daughter.

The film has not one shred of grace or subtlety. For example, with Vanessa as her new hurdle to overcome, what does Mona do. Get a lawyer, get a job, feed the tyke? No. She gets a camera and has the girl take candids of her for the upcoming big event and in one of the many cringe worthy moments finds herself assisting a pregnant woman's delivery in a supermarket, singing 'Wind Beneath My Wings' (!) The tone of the character is so mean-spirited that ultimately you don't care one iota if she succeeds in becoming a winner (she is so obsessed with this that nothing else matters in her life) and I actually loathed her for her displays of self-absorption and greed.

It was sickening and by the film's outrageous conclusion that Mona sees the errors of her way totally rings false and feels superfluous to the rest of the film.

Field, who obviously is one of our most talented actresses, should deserve better projects and one can only hope she will. As for Driver, another equally gifted actress, she had better get it into her head that there is no audience for a character that has no scruples, heart or affection for another character. If this was meant to be a black comedy then it completely misses the mark altogether.

OK so this film isn't destined for any Academy Awards, but it's a warm, winning flick that deserves to be recognized for it's very real strengths. Minnie Driver is usually wonderful, & she's wonderful here as Mona. Even as a kid (played by Colleen Rennison), Mona is feisty & determined, but you always see the ache beneath the bluster. We like Mona; you will too!

The contrast between the newspaper reviewers--who clobbered "Beautiful"--and its generally favorable bulletin board comments is extreme. The movie I saw is funny, entertaining, and has something thoughtful to add to discussion of gender politics, as well as to the various earlier films about beauty pageants.

"Beautiful" asks whether or not it is OK to continue having beauty pageants, and yet drop the requirement that the participants have refrained from motherhood, thereby straying from the pageants' vestal virgin ceremony origins. "Beautiful" answers in the affirmative, since that way pageants may yet have value in the personal development and empowerment of young women. If they are done with a little common sense, pageants need not be about objectifying or patronizing women

Apparently, that view was too politically incorrect for most big media critics. How would they have reviewed "Beautiful," had it been directed by Robert Altman instead of Sally Field?

On the unbelievable side but still an interesting look at a woman totally dedicated to winning beauty pageants as a way to build self esteem. A pushy, driven person who never quite grew up and leaned heavily on a childhood friend for the guidance and support she never received growing up in a loveless home. Good show with a 2 hankie finale.