Malfoyschickie
I seem to be the only one that really loves this movie. I think it builds very great character development, as well as having a unique character personalities.Minnie Driver does a beautiful job in this movie playing Mona, the beauty pagaent contestant, whose hiding the fact that she has a kid by her best friend,Joey Lauren Adams, taking over the title of her mom.I think it's a powerful story, as well as a great message that moms should be able to compete in beauty pageants. It makes me mad to know that this movie got such horrible critic reviews and user reviews. It may not be as well-written of a story like Good Will Hunting, but it's a great movie to watch with your girlfriends.
triple8
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.
cimorene_fantasy
For a great deal of the film my eyes did wander around as it is not the most riveting of film experiences; however, the ending was worthy of a standing ovation and tears.Throughout the story, I found myself wondering whether I should sympathise with Mona, a woman with such a desire to win that she selfishly sabotages fellow contestants and locks her own daughter out of her life. On the other hand, I was able to relate to the story of a woman who strove to be the best only to falter and be dragged down by peers. In a sense, Mona is to be applauded for her determination to shine through a life of failure and loneliness - a true testament to the feats that can be achieved though hard work. Naturally, giving up her child to selfishly pursue a vain dream is almost despicable but it makes the triumphant ending ever so much more inspiring, that this confused human being triumphs not only over adversity to be crowned Miss American Miss, but more importantly, that she conquers her own self-centred frailties to realise the joy to be found in loving the beautiful gift of life she already possesses.
acaka-1
This movie was well acted, but that is the only good thing I have to say about it. It was slow and the ending was ridiculous; The message (this will give away the ending) is that it doesn't matter what choices you make the rules don't apply to you. I disagree, once you make a choice you do not get to choose the consequence. And I am sick of Hollywood trying to tell us otherwise.
AD
