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In Short: The movie itself is more of a rental, but New Line has done an excellent job with the image/sound quality.
The Movie:
"Drop Dead Gorgeous" is a mess of a movie, but it's never unwatchable. A lot of the movie didn't interest me, but there were a handful of occasions that provided some big laughs. The movie has a fun structure that I enjoyed; it's a "mock-documentary" about a Minnesota beauty pageant, and as with any similar movie, the actors interact with and talk to the camera and the camera crew.
The movie takes a look at the colorful(to put it lightly) inhabitants of a tiny Minnesota town and how the entire town reacts during the various stages of the contest, from the introductions to the finals. The main characters are Amber Atkins( Kirstin Dunst, with a great accent), who works in the morgue when she's not perfecting her tap routines. Her main competition is Rebecca Leeman("The World Is Not Enough's" Denise Richards), whose mother is a former winner and the organizer of the contest.
Dunst's performance is easily the better one as she takes her character almost to perfection in the role. Richards has a few good scenes, but she doesn't seem quite as into the role as Dunst is with hers. There's also a great supporting cast, although Kirstie Alley and Ellen Barkin take their roles a little too far into cartoons as the mothers of the two girls.
The movie's flaw isn't really the humor, a lot of which is right on target; it's just that the structure feels messy - it just throws jokes and scenes at the audience and some work, while some fall flat. Occasionally, it does feel a little slow at points as well. Overall, it's something that I'd really recommend more as a rental.
The DVD
VIDEO:
Although New Line has always done excellent work in terms of image quality, they have done some of their very best work on "Drop Dead Goregous"; the picture is incredibly sharp and wonderfully clear throughout. Detail in the image is absolutely excellent and consistently so throughout. Colors fare in similar fashion, looking incredibly strong and nicely saturated. Black level is solid and flesh tones remain natural and accurate.
Flaws? There really aren't any. No shimmering, pixelization, and the print used is free of any flaws or other such problems. Although New Line has always done great work, this is as good, if not better than "Blast From The Past", which is the best DVD I've seen from them in terms of image quality recently.
SOUND: Pretty much the normal for comedy; the movie is mainly dialogue and there really isn't much use (or need for much use, really) of the surrounds. There's some great rock songs that are put to good use, but that's about all there is to it. Dialogue is clear and clean, with no problems. Sound-wise, no problems, but nothing impressive, either.
MENUS:: Hilarious animated menus that really get into the spirit of the movie. I don't want to give the idea for the menus away, because then it won't be quite as funny, I think .
EXTRAS: The trailer.
Final Thoughts Definitely a good rental over the holidays.
Film Grade
The Film 75/C = (350/500 possible points)
Stars: ** 1/2
DVD Grades
Video 97/A = (388/400 possible points)
Audio: 85/B = (340/400 possible points)
Extras: 75/C = (225/300 possible points)
Menus 85/B = (170/200 possible points)
Value: 85/B = (255/300 possible points)
TOTAL POINTS:1728/2100
Average:82%/B
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