An older, but classic, movie. The main character, Gracie Hart, played by Sandra Bullock, shares the major opinion that I have on beauty pageants.
Beauty pangeants in general are just a way for women to capitalize on the preconceived notions of men that women should just be eye candy. Why would women degrade themselves in such a way? So a movie that involves a very smart, feminist woman that works for the CIA having to go undercover in such an environment is classic comedy. It also reveals many of the reasons that the phrase "beauty is pain" exists. Waxing, starvation, rigorous exercise, and not to mention painful high-heels, goes into making these models the 'perfect examples of beauty'.
The only complaint I really have with the entire movie is that while some of these girls may not be complete idiots, the selling out of the character of Gracie Hart at the end of the movie completely ruins it for me. Sure, she can learn the lesson that 'some' models have a brain of some sort, but does she really have to state that she "really does want world peace"?
I'm so sick of having to hear about how Miss America wants world peace. Think of a new answer to that freaking question! There are so many other things that are much more attainable that "world peace". The fact of it is that even though beauty pageants create false figure heads, they do have some power. So they could use it for something other than "I want world peace".
So, getting back on topic: good movie, bad ending. Well, at least they had a Martha Stuart look-a-like as the villain.
