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| | Salon Arts & Entertainment | "Drop Dead Gorgeous" (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-02) |
 | | In a fictional town where careerism is defined as "once a carny, always a carny" and a cigarette-puffing teen claims she can't attend a parade because she's, like, due that day, credibility is clearly not so much on the filmmakers' agenda as is sheer lunacy. |
 | | It helps tremendously that those lines are being delivered by such capable actors, and "Drop Dead Gorgeous" boasts some surprisingly inspired performances -- Ellen Barkin in particular, with her Farrah hair and Naugahyde tan, her hand literally fused to a beer can-cum-ashtray, is utterly fearless as Amber's low-rent but softhearted mom. |
 | | In a summer of rude comedies, "Drop Dead Gorgeous" may be the rudest of all, one that eschews cheap body fluid humor (well, except for that group vomit scene) and dares to go for the jugular. |
| www.salon.com /ent/movies/review/1999/07/23/gorgeous (979 words) |
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