Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Python Hyena Beautiful (2000): Dir: Sally Field / Cast: Minnie Driver, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Joey Lauren Adams, Kathleen Turner, Leslie Stefanson: Brain dead embarrassment supposedly representing change of character. Minnie Driver plays a spoiled brat who dreams of becoming Miss America. She gets pregnant and Joey Lauren Adams raises the child. Pitiful situations arrive such as Driver assisting a woman in labor. She announces constantly that she is Miss Illonois while wheeling her out in a shopping cart. Adams is a care giver arrested when a patient overdoses on pills but freed with no explanation as to how she was found innocent. Early hints of incest are also never addressed. Horrible directing by Sally Field who probably should stay in front of the camera where she is at her best, in films better than this one. Driver is embarrassing in pretty much every scene and that is saying something considering the level of talent she has demonstrated in other films. Hallie Kate Eisenberg goes through the motions as her daughter. Adams isn't exactly giving a Chasing Amy performance here especially since her role is very loosely written and handled. Kathleen Turner is an unfortunate waste. Leslie Stefanson plays a fellow idiot contestant. While it examines various aspects of beauty pageants it can never avoid becoming something that is anything but beautiful. Score: 2 / 10

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!

george.schmidt 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.

bopdog This movie is more surprising than most--- Sally Field, a great and wonderful actor, and lady, directed it. Minnie Driver and Joey Lauren Adams--- two great actors themselves, performed their butts off for their roles in this thing. But dang! This movie simply isn't good at all. The ideas and themes could probably have been fashioned into something interesting and touching, but as it is, "Beautiful" comes off as half-baked, amateurish, and stupid.One odd thing that I couldn't help but notice over and over throughout the movie--- the main characters all seemed to be doing impressions of Sally Field characters from Field's long history of otherwise marvelous performances. That was weird--- very, very often each character was speaking, acting, and energetically "being" Sally Field. That might have been an accident; perhaps they were unconsciously trying to please Field, who was the director? Or perhaps Field's vibe, subtly, was just transferred somehow into the performances? Dunno...Overall, maybe 10 and 12 year old girls might find this "solid" entertainment. After all, the sentiment and themes appear decent, even if they ultimately came to the screen only partially, and in a clumsy manner. I gave this a 4 out of 10.