Beautiful (2000)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

As its title, the movie is beautiful but based upon a lot of pain and sufferings. This sadness is all the more harrowing than the entire cast is feminine, which is an amazing feat in nowadays Hollywood. As a female french writer, Simone de Beauvoir, said that "women don't birth but become so". We see that there: all the women are suffering from child to teen, adult and even third age! Their pain is closely linked with their beauty and their parents. In a way, this movie asks the following question: what is it to be a woman in America? For the answer, you can count on a truly excellent cast: the kids are very touching and they can be proud to have such a milestone at their age. Minnie Driver really carries the story on her shoulders. For me, she was a future leading actress but she seems to have disappeared since. It's a pity.I don't really understand how such a movie can be award-less ? So, if you find it, take the course!

She acts, she sings, she models, she's a beauty queen! Minnie Driver shines in this almost perfectly wonderful film in which she plays a mother who is obsessed with pageantry but she has a secret daughter that she's been hiding and whose identity could get her disqualified from current and future contests. Her best-friend whom has been taking care of the child for a while soon becomes ill and brings the girl to meet with the beauty queen with catastrophic results. Driver is then forced to choose between her dream and her child as she weighs the consequences of her actions, as well as the relationships that matter most to her in life. It's a sweet film that will make you laugh. It kind of reminded me of Miss Congeniality with it's bubbly nature although those two films couldn't be more different. Don't miss Driver as she showcases her vocals during a contest, a foreshadowing for the pop career she issued a CD for years later?

SPOILERS THROUGH: I did not think Beautiful was bad so much as unstructured. One minute the audience was watching a rather serious drama, the next almost a spoof on pageants. I really don't think the whole pageant movie thing has become overdone yet but most movies about this subject, in my opinion, just aren't very good. Beautiful has some nice moments but by and large it's all over the place as far as genres go (drama, comedy, satire). I think it really should have stayed just a drama because the plot was interesting and the cast was good.As far as Driver's performance goes, she was convincing. The problem is that so much of what takes place is such a satire that it's almost impossible to take the serious moments seriously. The character of Mona also changes so abruptly that it is impossible not to be skeptical. Instead of so much silly satire it would have been nice if more character development of Mona had gone on. I could buy the fact that she grew and matured but more time was needed in the movie to show her transition. We don't get to see enough character development of anyone and to much time is wasted on things that have no relevance to the plot such as the scheming reporter who wants to ruin Mona's reputation. What was the point with that? It did not even fit into the storyline.The best aspect of this movie was the character of Vanessa who was played not just well, but with excellence. I really enjoyed her scenes with Mona and actually really enjoyed a rare few moments of this movie that had a whole lot of potential (it's nowhere near as Bad as many critic reviews say in my opinion and at least they didn't throw in an unconvincing romance and make the whole thing a romantic comedy to boot.) But it's like the movie gave up and decided it did not need to make a strong effort on structure and character development or something.If a bit more effort had gone into dialog, if Mona's character had been a bit more developed, if some of the silly stuff had been dropped and if Mona's and Vanessa's relationship had unfolded a bit more realistically this movie would have been quite something. As it stands it's about average.

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.