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.

krazekc14 This movie was really cool. And a lot like a real pageant (sorta) and how she could still (spoiler!!!) be a mom and miss America miss and miss Illinois was so cool. and how she worked so hard when she was a kid and finally had her dream come true with her friend (sorta) by her side. Its a really cool movie for anyone who's been or thought of being in a pageant! I think that even though her mom was totally not there for her when she should have been....ever. There should totally be a sequel to beautiful. I almost didn't pick it up because of how old it is but after i watched it i realized that it was a timeless movie!! This movie has inspired me even more to be in a pageant!!! Totally watch it!

Cipher-J This is meant to be a farcical treatment of the "Beauty Pageant" business and it succeeds rather well in that category. The most distracting aspect is that the lead and her sidekick were supposed to be late teens to barely twenty in the story, whereas the actresses who portray them were actually about thirty at the time. Mary Pickford was of course playing ingenue roles well into her forties, but that was at a time when audiences did not expect much realism from their movies. Now we do, and although both of these ladies give credible performances, the fact that they are rather too old for their parts is quite obvious.With that having been said, the character who delivers the best performance is clearly the kid, "Vanessa," brilliantly portrayed by a real life eight year old. She is the one who gives true meaning to the story, without which it would have been hopelessly banal and obnoxious.Otherwise, the "Beauty Pageant" business is presented with all the selfishness and hypocrisy it deserves. Beauty pageants are about well packaged skin, and not much else. Like with the sports shtick and the pop music racket, little boys and girls deceive themselves by the raw few who succeed, to the point where clawing their way to the top of the Christmas tree means more than being a good mom or dad. That is the message of this film, and whether it could have benefitted from more age-appropriate casting, it delivers that point.

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.